---

Employment

It seems perverse that at a time when there has been a severe contraction in the construction industry, Eaga, which is responsible for implementing the Government's warm homes programme, just last week said that any household in fuel poverty which applies for assistance will not be able to get it until the end of this winter because it does not have enough qualified people to deliver the upgrading of properties and the replacement of heating systems. Will my right hon. Friend ask the Prime Minister, in the new partnership committee that he is considering, to seek ways of dovetailing local ownership of identifying where we have work that needs to be done this winter with the availability of the skills that need to be harnessed to deliver the upgrading work?