- Cross Party Action on Fuel Poverty Group
- Consultation Responses
- Pre-Election Brief 2007-2011
- Warm Homes Campaign
Cross Party Action on Fuel Poverty Group
The Problem of Fuel Poverty
A warm dry home is a basic necessity of life, but one which the poorest households in Wales struggle to achieve. They spend a high proportion of their limited incomes on fuel, but they have still to choose between cold homes or fuel bills they cannot afford.
The principal reason is that far too many homes are poorly insulated and have uneconomic and inefficient heating systems. The consequence is fuel poverty, resulting in misery, ill health and premature death - excess winter death rates are markedly higher in the United Kingdom than in other countries with colder climates.
The Welsh Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty was established in February 2009 to raise awareness of the problem of fuel poverty and the policies which will eradicate it by;
- maintaining awareness in the Senedd of the problem of fuel poverty and the policies needed to eradicate it;
- investigating the contribution needed from Government, local authorities, landlords, voluntary sector and the energy industry to enable people on low incomes to keep warm at a price they can afford;
- monitoring the impact of the Government's Fuel Poverty Strategy and the main initiatives it has set in place to deliver the strategy;
- identifying any changes needed to legislation or regulatory frameworks to ensure fuel poverty is eradicated in Wales by 2018; and
- where any such gaps are identified, seek to address these through the most appropriate and practicable parliamentary options.
The Officers of the Group
- Mark Isherwood AM (Chair)
- Mike Bates AM
- Dai Lloyd AM
- Nick Bourne AM
- Janet Ryder AM
- Alun Davies AM
Scheduled Meetings for 2009
- Wednesday 20th May (8.15 am- 9.15 am)
- Wednesday 23rd September (8.15 am- 9.15 am)
The venue in both cases is Conference room 21 in Ty Hywel House, Cardiff Bay Cardiff CF99 1NA
Contact
The Group is jointly facilitated in partnership with Consumer Focus Wales, if you would like to find out more, please contact Nuria Zolle Director of NEA Cymru (nuria.zolle@nea.org.uk) or Liz Withers Principal Policy Advocate at Consumer Focus Wales. Liz.withers@consumerfocus.org.uk
Cross Party Fuel Poverty Working Group Minutes - 3 February 2009
Cross Party Fuel Poverty Working Group Minutes - 20 May 2009
Action on Fuel Poverty
We are calling on all Assembly Members to help step up action on fuel poverty and support our call for:
- New and refined targets for eradicating fuel poverty among vulnerable groups
- New cross-departmental Ministerial Fuel Poverty Task Force
- An enhanced role for local authorities to help combat fuel poverty
- Improved access to micro-generation and other renewable technology
- Joining up income maximisation schemes with advice on energy efficiency
- Action to ensure Wales gets its fair share of energy suppliers' funding
- More support for community-based approaches in Wales
- Extension of the Winter Fuel Payment
- Mandatory social tariffs
- A single national energy efficiency scheme
Click here for our policy wants in detail
Consultation Responses
- Communities Next 28/4/08
- Rural Sub-committee -Poverty and Deprivation 7/3/08
- Energy Supply Probe-Wales 30/4/08
- Ecological Footprint 2008
- Energy Route Map 2008
- Rural Health 9/08
- One Wales - One Planet 4/2/09
- Green Jobs for Wales 20/2/09
Other responses
Pre-Election Brief 2007-2011
NEA Cymru invited the Spokesperson for Social Justice from each major political party in Wales to respond to questions on fuel poverty.
This election brief presents their policy positions alongside NEA Cymru’s manifesto.
Warm Homes Campaign
The Warm Homes Campaign (formerly Warm Homes Week) started in 1991 as a way of raising awareness on a national level of the major impact of fuel poverty. The campaign aims to promote increased investment in energy efficiency to reduce fuel poverty and to publicise the availability of grant aid to low-income households.
A key aim of the campaign is to inform MPs, Welsh Assembly Members (AMs) and other decision makers about the health problems caused by living in cold, damp homes and the benefits that increased investment in energy efficiency can bring.
In November- December 2008 5 AMs took part in the campaign in Wales and a number of events where also organised during the campaign to publicise innovative projects operating at a local, regional and national level to help alleviate the problem of fuel poverty.
- Andrew Davies AM
- Mark Isherwood AM
- Ieuan Wyn Jones AM
- Jane Davidson AM
- Mick Bates AM
The Warm Homes Campaign 2008 was organised in association with eaga and is supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in England and Wales. NEA acknowledges the active support given by the HEES scheme managers, eaga, in identifying the clients visited by AMs.