4. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: Fuel Poverty Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:56 pm on 2 March 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 3:56, 2 March 2021

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you very much indeed for announcing that the WHQS is going to be raised to the highest A rating standard, which I know will be really, really good news to the tenant I was speaking to last week who lives in a no-fines home—you'll recall that this is one without a cavity—and in addition, he lives on the end of a terrace, so the heating simply doesn't cope with warming the home. They are permanently living in a cold home, so I hope that this is going to be just the first of many initiatives to build back fairer and also drive down our carbon emissions.

Specifically, in the climate change report that you referred to, I noticed that there were only 8,000 air- and ground-source heat pumps being used in Wales, which seems incredibly low for all those who are not able to access gas, and obviously, as a result, are having much more expensive heating than they need to, and because they're in rural areas mainly, why are we not using more of that technology, which after the insulation produces much cheaper electricity?

My other question is around what we're going to do about the appalling heating arrangements in many, many of our private rented homes, and the National Residential Landlords Association wants somebody else to do something about this, when I feel that there is a duty on private landlords to ensure that their homes are fit for renting. So, whilst we're raising the A rating to social housing, what proposals do you have to raise the minimum standards of fuel efficiency for private rented homes as well, as part of their licensing arrangements and also to increase the reach of Arbed, not just to the lowest super-output areas that have very, very poor ratings at the moment, but to all homes that have very, very poor ratings, because people are suffering wherever they're living?