Written question asked by Peter Ainsworth (Conservative) on Monday, 8 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 February 2010. It was answered by David Kidney (Labour) on Monday, 22 February 2010 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Energy: Housing

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of fuel poor households which (a) have received assistance in respect of his Department's provision for each energy saving measure under each of the first two phases of the Energy Efficiency Commitment and the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) programme in each year since 2002-03 and (b) will receive assistance in respect of his Department's provision for each such measure under the extended CERT programme; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The data requested are not available because the English Housing Survey, which is used to model fuel poverty, does not monitor individual households through time, rather it draws a representative sample each year. As such, it is not possible to identify individual households that have received assistance under these schemes, although the impact in aggregate of them will be captured in the fuel poverty statistics.Over 7 million households have benefited from insulation measures alone since 2002 through EEC and CERT. 40 per cent. of the carbon saving target is required to be achieved in a Priority Group of more vulnerable households on eligible benefits and aged 70 and over, so these schemes will have had a considerable impact in helping many households heat their homes for less. The CERT extension phase from April 2011 to December is proposed to be as ambitious as CERT.

Secondary information