---

Energy Bill

I am very pleased that my noble friend Lord Jenkin has tabled the amendment, which poses an interesting question about what steps need to be taken to ensure that fuel poverty targets are met. As the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, said, on the Pensions Bill currently making its way through your Lordships’ House, the Government have tabled an amendment to allow the information of those on state pension credits to be used to better target fuel poverty. As he said, the amendment would extend the access to the information of other groups. While the Government’s track record on data protection is not enviable, this might be a necessary way of tackling fuel poverty. Businesses are currently spending enormous amounts of money trying to find out who they are supposed to be helping, and it will be very interesting to hear from the Minister whether he thinks that this access to information would be the way forward in addressing the problems of the fuel poor.