5. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: The Warm Homes Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:48 pm on 19 February 2019.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 4:48, 19 February 2019

So, this Government is spending £25 million per year on tackling fuel poverty when it's costing the NHS at least £100 million a year to deal with some of its consequences. And, of course, that £100 million doesn't include the cost of tackling the respiratory consequences of living in a cold and damp home, the mental health consequences of fuel debt et cetera, et cetera. So, what does it say about how seriously this Government is taking its obligations in terms of preventative spend and the preventative approach promoted in the well-being of future generations Act, when your response to the fuel poverty crisis in Wales is, frankly, so inadequate?

Now, I welcome the proposed new plan for tackling fuel poverty. What I don't welcome, of course, is that it won't be published until a year from now, and that's when it'll be published, so we're not quite sure whether that's also when it will start to be actioned. Presumably, that'll be in 2021 when the current Warm Homes programme comes to an end. So, by 2021, we will have probably seen in Wales nearly 1,000 Welsh people dying in excess winter deaths related to fuel poverty. Now, that's not acceptable, clearly. So, how ambitious will the new plan be? Will the new plan, for example, include a target for eradicating fuel poverty, given, of course, that you woefully failed to meet that target of eradicating fuel poverty by 2018? Now, what you say in your statement is that the plan will include

'outcome-focused objectives that are aspirational.'

Well, that's the worst kind of civil service speak I've probably seen in a long, long time in any statement. When is a target not a target? When it's an outcome-focused objective that is aspirational. So, can you tell us what that means, Minister? Could you give us an example, maybe, of what kind of thing that could be, in your view? And, could you be clear as to whether the new plan will include a target to eradicate the scourge of fuel poverty in Wales?

Two final questions. Sixteen per cent of energy customers in Wales use electric and gas pre-payment meters, which, of course, is the most expensive payment method, so could you tell us what more your Government will be doing to help those people, many of whom will obviously be struggling and living in fuel poverty? And finally, the last time the Welsh Government considered energy efficiency levels of new houses, you bottled it. You consulted, of course, on the Part L building regulations, you consulted on a proposed 25 per cent or 40 per cent target for improving energy efficiency, and you plumped for a stunningly modest 8 per cent improvement, locking, of course, more energy inefficiency into every new house built in Wales, and locking that inefficiency in for up to 100 years. And as you are reviewing the Part L building regulations this year, can you reassure us that you won't bottle it again?