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Mr. Burns: That is an important point. I may disappoint my right hon. Friend because I cannot produce hard facts to answer his question, although I can give him anecdotal evidence and some facts. For several reasons, under Governments of both parties, local authority housing and the public sector have had problems, although those have reduced as a result of energy efficiency measures taken in the late 1980s, in the 1990s and--to be fair--under this Government. When I come on to my local authority of Chelmsford, I shall be able to provide my right hon. Friend with some figures to show the extent of the problem facing what is a relatively small local authority.
Fuel poverty is not confined to local authority housing. For example, although one hears stories of good practice by private landlords in the private sector, one also hears some utter horror stories. Of course, owners of houses have an incentive to adopt measures to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of their homes because they
will improve the value of their home and reduce their heating bills. I fear that my answer has been inadequate, but I hope that my right hon. Friend will wait until later in my speech for more details about the scale of the problem in the local authority sector.
Mr. Alan Simpson
: Is the hon. Gentleman aware of the experiment that is being conducted in Cornwall by some GPs who are specifically focusing on child asthma? They are part of an initiative actually to prescribe the installation of home insulation measures to address the ill-health experienced by children suffering from asthma. In the context of evidence-based medicine, it is important to examine the health gain arising from such initiatives.
Mr. Burns:
That is an important contribution to the debate and I trust that if the hon. Gentleman catches your eye, Mr. Deputy Speaker, he will tell us more about that important initiative.
It is accepted that a temperature for the home of between 18 and 21 deg C is a comfortable temperature for families and individuals to live in. A temperature of between 16 and 18 deg C will cause some discomfort, but no serious health risks; between 12 and 16 deg C will cause discomfort and risk of respiratory disease and bronchitis. At 9 to 12 deg C, there is risk of cardiovascular problems, strokes, heart attacks; and, at under 9 deg C, there are serious risks of hypothermia. Sad to say, in this day and age, some individuals and families have to live in homes with temperatures of under 9 deg C, thus exposing them to serious risk of hypothermia.
Mr. David Drew (Stroud):
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that one of the key health factors is rehabilitation after patients are discharged from hospital? Much evidence now exists to show that one of the reasons for readmission to hospital is the inability of patients properly to heat their homes.
Mr. Burns:
The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point, although some of those suffering from cold-related illnesses also need physiotherapy, respite care and after-care help. As other hon. Members have said, for many years now, there has been an unacceptable level of deaths associated with fuel poverty. My hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West mentioned that the figures for the latest year available--1998-99--showed that in England alone just over 45,000 people died from such causes. That figure has risen over eight years from 33,000. Those are unacceptable figures that shame our society.
In my area of East Anglia, between 1991 and now, the death rates have increased from about 1,200 people a year to 2,250. In my constituency, the number of deaths associated with problems of fuel poverty has been estimated at about 50 a year. In this day and age, it is staggering that we cannot get our act together better to reduce those figures dramatically.
The extent of fuel poverty in my constituency is highlighted by figures that Chelmsford borough council has kindly supplied to me. The council's housing stock comprises 7,500 dwellings. It estimates that some 3,500 still require simple energy efficiency measures, including cavity wall insulation, additional loft insulation, and draught-proofing of doors and windows. The council expects to complete those works within the next two
years. Approximately 600 solid-walled and prefabricated dwellings in the borough are in need of insulation applied to the outside walls. That work is expected to take in excess of 10 years to complete at current funding levels.
Approximately 2,000 dwellings still lack a central heating system. That work is expected to take more than five years to complete at present funding levels. Some 4,000 dwellings lack double glazing and that work is expected to take more than 15 years to complete. Some 3,500 dwellings have older, less efficient heating systems, but at present resources in the borough are focused on what is called first-time heating, and the older systems will be renewed only when they are beyond repair. It will be necessary, as soon as all dwellings have been provided with some kind of heating system, to start to replace the old heating systems. We are fortunate in Chelmsford that this work is being done.
Chelmsford is not governed by my party and although it was governed by the Liberal Democrats for four years, my constituents saw the light last May and we now have a hung council. The Conservative councillors now have a direct input. I pay tribute to the council, under the Liberal Democrats and now as a hung council, because it is a proactive authority that has done all it can in the past decade to enhance its housing stock and to seek to make homes more energy efficient, for the benefit of the tenants and for the sake of quality of that stock.
Mrs. Gilroy:
Will the hon. Gentleman also pay tribute to the Government for enabling local authorities to give more priority to schemes such as he has described through the release of £3.6 billion of capital receipts?
Mr. Burns:
I certainly do not want to make a party political or partisan speech this morning. I would pay tribute to any Government who acted to enhance the country's energy efficiency programme, in housing or in other sectors, as that would in turn enhance the quality of life and environment for people in local authority housing.
However, we must not forget that not only local authority housing needs to be improved. As I said in response to the intervention from my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst, there is an urgent need for a rolling programme to bring up to standard the quality of local authority and housing association provision. That is why I so congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West on the Bill. It is another step forward, and it follows previous legislation and initiatives by all Governments.
Private owners in work have a real incentive to improve the quality of their homes. One crude and self-evident reason for that is that improvements enhance a house's value, but they also contribute to our overall environmental commitments by reducing energy wastage. In addition, those home owners benefit financially: on top of the real-terms fall in most fuel prices over the past decade, they will pay less per year on heating and cooking.
Sadly, some people are not able to take the appropriate action to improve their homes and render them more energy efficient, so they do not benefit from savings on their energy bills. For example, pensioners subsisting on the state retirement pension are unlikely to be able to
afford the complete package of home improvements. I know that help is provided with loft insulation, for instance, but the complete package is beyond them. Unemployed home owners also lack the financial resources to undertake such work, and people on low incomes may take a long time to raise the finance for improvements to their homes.
I am also worried about privately rented accommodation. Many private landlords have the best interests of their tenants at heart and spend the money necessary to improve their housing stock and their tenants' quality of life. Regrettably, however, some private landlords do not engage in best practice. They want to maximise their rents and to make only a minimum investment in their properties. They have an almost total disregard for the quality of their tenants' lives.
Although clause 3 empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations implementing the Bill and the items specified in clause 2, clause 4(b) states that nothing in this Act shall be taken as conferring
I do not want letters of complaint from all over the country, so I repeat that the vast majority of private landlords are extremely good. However, a small proportion is not, and I fear that clause 4(b) could ruin the good intentions of this important Bill.
Mr. David Kidney (Stafford):
The hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess), the promoter of the Bill, said that he was an optimist and that he hoped that landlords could be tempted to undertake the work prescribed in the Bill by the carrot of public funding, as well as out of self-interest. Such carrots include the home energy efficiency scheme and renovation grants. Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that there should be sticks as well as carrots?
any power to require any person to carry out works.
I assume that the Bill contains that provision so that Governments do not have draconian powers to interfere. However, is it not naive for legislation to rely for its successful implementation on the good nature and public-spiritedness of a private landlord?
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