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Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill

I am satisfied with our development of measures such as the warm front programme, which has helped—I speak from memory—1 million households. There are equivalent programmes in Wales and Scotland. There is also the supply companies’ obligation to take energy efficiency seriously, and there are the winter fuel payments, which are very popular with the elderly and arrive in December, which is important. I am confident about the armoury of measures that we are developing, but we probably need to do more. It may be said that we use jargon when we talk of fuel poverty, but this country has a poor record historically when it comes to protecting vulnerable elderly people in winter. We should all be ashamed of that. I believe that we are moving in the right direction, but regardless of any arguments about terminology and jargon, there is no denying that even during mild winters, in Bromley, Croydon, Merton or anywhere else, some of our elders die from cold-related conditions—respiratory conditions, for instance, or circulatory conditions such as heart disease. That is a real problem, and the House should not be in denial over its immensity. As I have said, I think that we are moving in the right direction, but as one who wrote a book about this subject in my youth, I feel strongly about it. I will not allow anyone to say that it is not a real issue, because it is.