Written question asked by Lord Mann (Labour) on Tuesday, 23 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 29 October 2007. It was answered by Phil Woolas (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 October 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme: Prices

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how Warm Front's pricing structure for central heating installation was determined.

Answer: [holding answer 29 October 2007]: Warm Front's pricing structure for central heating installation is based on the cost of materials and the cost of labour.The cost of materials was determined by a competitive tender process undertaken by my Department to award contracts to supply materials. The contracts were won by Plumb Center (Wolseley ) and Graham Group (Saint-Gobain).The cost of labour was determined by a competitive tender process undertaken by Eaga plc. Eaga plc was appointed the main contractor for Warm Front following an earlier competitive tender run by DEFRA. Eaga plc oversaw a competitive bidding process to appoint sub-contractors across the UK to support the delivery of the scheme. Through this process, Eaga plc was able to set regionalised labour prices as determined by the tender.

Secondary information