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11.48 am
Mr. Jim Dobbin (Heywood and Middleton): I sincerely congratulate the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) on his wisdom in choosing to introduce such a worthwhile and much-needed Bill and on the flourish at the end of his speech.
For far too long, many people in this country have suffered the ill-effects of poorly heated homes, which have caused great concern to the elderly and other
vulnerable groups. Up to 8 million households in the United Kingdom suffer from cold homes and that figure represents many, many more individuals. Many of those most at risk are afraid to use their heating because they cannot afford to pay for it and many old people in my constituency go to bed early and get up late to save energy costs. That is a form of social exclusion in itself and it can lead to loss of mobility and deep depression.
The very young are no less vulnerable. Many new-born babies come home from a warm hospital to a cold and damp environment. Small children lose body heat very quickly, and it is difficult to maintain it when parents are on low wages and cannot afford extra heating.
Much of our housing stock falls below the standard required to provide warm and dry accommodation. As housing chair in the metropolitan borough of Rochdale, I became familiar with the problems caused by lack of investment and lack of improvement in housing in both the public and the private sectors, both pre-war and post-war. Many occupants had developed respiratory tract illnesses as a result of living in damp and draughty houses during the winter months. In many instances whole families were huddled together in the living room, where the only heating in the house was a gas fire. They had to put up with fungus-covered walls, which were the norm on some estates. Any attempt to improve the environment even just by decorating was doomed to failure, as the damp caused wallpaper to peel away. Throughout the winter months, my telephone rang constantly.
The Kirkholt estate in Rochdale was one of the first to attract much-welcomed estates action funds, which financed what became known as the warm and dry Kirkholt project. Central heating systems were installed in approximately 2,000 properties; previously, there had been just two centrally heated properties on the estate. Cavity wall insulation was put in, and properties were reroofed where necessary. New guttering, the repointing of defective brickwork and double glazing, with new window frames, brought the houses up to an acceptable standard. The problem of damp disappeared, and the high level of respiratory tract infections was vastly reduced. The normal winter health problems were all but eliminated, and my telephone stopped ringing so frequently.
Another problem in the area was the number of old terraced properties--a remnant of the industrial revolution, centring on that part of the country. Similar problems to the ones that I have mentioned were common. Grant-supported envelope schemes, and a solution to the problem of cavity-tied wall failure, meant that occupants had an improved home environment that was both warm and dry. A similar improvement in health followed the exercise.
In my constituency, a former Manchester overspill estate, the Darnhill estate--now taken over and managed by the Guinness trust housing association--is the subject of a modernisation programme. More than 400 properties out of a total of 1,100 will have central heating for the first time, and will benefit from other improvements. Housing-associated health problems have been much reduced by remedial action--not just the provision of central heating, but a package of measures designed to tackle each different set of circumstances. It is not just a question of resources in the form of grants; it is a question of improving properties.
It is unacceptable for such circumstances to arise in the year 2000. It is unacceptable that so many people should live in conditions that fall so far short of providing a healthy, warm, dry home. The population is living longer: many elderly people can look forward to 10, 20 or 30 years after retirement. Those years should not be a time of worry about the cost of heating, or the fear of respiratory tract infections as a result of damp and draughts. Such people should not be condemned to stay in bed for many of their waking hours in order to keep warm.
The Government are aware of the difficulty, and have already provided a £100 winter fuel allowance and a reduction in value added tax on fuel, along with other measures. Those are excellent improvements, but if full value is to be gained from them, we need the comprehensive package described in the Bill. That will go some way towards alleviating the unacceptable problems experienced by so many of my constituents.
Mr. Nigel Waterson (Eastbourne):
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I have given notice of it.
As you will know, last night, the Government suffered a humiliating defeat on the Local Government Bill in the House of Lords. What Lord Whitty described as a central part of the Bill was changed by their lordships. Have you been approached by the Deputy Prime Minister or any of his junior Ministers--one of whom is present--asking to make a statement today, and to tell us whether the Government intend to try to change the Bill again in the House of Commons, where it will shortly be discussed, or whether they intend to recognise the view of their lordships and many in local government that they should be allowed to make their own choices in regard to structures, rather than those structures being imposed by central Government?
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael Lord):
I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but I have received no indication that such a statement might be made.
Mr. Roy Beggs (East Antrim):
I am pleased to offer my support for this crucial Bill. The hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) deserves great credit for taking up the issue, and for bringing it this far with so much support. My hon. Friend the Member for Belfast, South (Rev. Martin Smyth), our party Whip, is a sponsor, signifying the support of the Ulster Unionists. I also pay tribute to the hon. Members for Plymouth, Sutton (Mrs. Gilroy) and for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson), who have persistently pushed for the Bill to be taken seriously. I am sure that they are delighted by the Bill's progress.
The need to ensure that some of the most vulnerable members of society can be warm in their homes is, I am sure, recognised by all hon. Members. The links between cold homes and ill health are obvious to us all. Those links, however, are not just a question of common sense; they are backed up by scientists and doctors. Numerous reports can be quoted to make those links clear-- Sir Donald Acheson's recent report on health, work by the Building Research Establishment and reports by the House's own Select Committees, such as the recent Environment Audit Committee report on energy efficiency.
We should be ashamed of the increased number of deaths in winter. I am appalled by the fact that more than 1,200 excess deaths have been recorded, or estimated, in Northern Ireland. Hon. Members have acknowledged the harshness of our winters, which is comparable to those in Scotland. We should not tolerate the fact that our record is so much worse than that of other European countries--and deaths are only one aspect of the misery that is being caused.
Thousands of people are made ill because their homes are cold each winter. Doctors must despair when they treat people successfully in hospital, curing them of illness, only to have to send them straight back to the cold, damp homes that made them ill in the first place. We must aim, as the Bill does, to tackle the causes of the problems, rather than just treating the symptoms.
The Bill would also have environmental benefits. Insulation helps to prevent energy from being wasted, and that is an important part of our commitment to tackling climate change. While it is always difficult to link particular weather events to climate change, evidence suggests that the recent terrible floods in Mozambique are exactly the type of disaster that we shall see more and more often as the climate heats up. Preventing that from happening is one of the greatest challenges faced by Governments throughout the world.
Ms Jenny Jones (Wolverhampton, South-West):
I join Labour Members in paying tribute to the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess), who used his good fortune in the private Member's Bill ballot, being drawn No. 5, to introduce what is a very important and popular Bill. We all owe him a debt of gratitude. Like other Labour Members, I hope that having the support of so many Members on the Government Benches will not ruin his street cred.
I endorse the tributes that the hon. Gentleman paid to my hon. Friends the Members for Plymouth, Sutton (Mrs. Gilroy) and for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson) and to the Conservative Members who have put so much work into the issue. On a sadder note, let me say that I support the Bill, and so did Michael Colvin. He and I served on the Council of Europe delegation, so I knew him quite well. I think that I speak for everyone on the delegation when I say how sad we were at the death of Michael and his wife Nichola. We will miss them very much.
Members have spoken eloquently about fuel poverty and its effect on people's lives. I shall not repeat the point. I completely agree with all hon. Members who think that it is a scandal that, just as we enter the 21st century, people simply cannot heat their homes adequately because they are poor and so suffer from all those illnesses, some dying unnecessarily.
I will be brief because I know that other hon. Members want to get in. I make just two points. The Bill's greatest strength is that it uses energy conservation and energy
efficiency to tackle fuel poverty. Those of us who are of a certain age in the House--the age of wisdom and experience--will no doubt remember the save it campaign of the 1970s. Because of the oil crisis, there was a national awareness campaign. For the first time, many people had to think about where energy came from, how we used it and could save it. It was probably the first time that many people who could afford to do so started to insulate their homes. They began to realise how much energy we were wasting.
Times have moved on. Oddly, I agree with the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth), who said that, if we try to tackle the issue just by lowering fuel prices, we will be in great danger of increasing the pollution that comes about from the energy sources that we use. Grants for people who cannot adequately heat their homes and reducing fuel prices alone will not solve the basic issue. We have to think about where our energy comes from and how to conserve it.
I think that developing renewable energy sources should be a far greater priority, but that is a debate for another day. If I discussed that now, Mr. Deputy Speaker would no doubt quickly rein me in, as it is not the subject of the Bill. Nevertheless, it is an important issue. We have to think about where our energy comes from. The fact that the Bill emphasises energy conservation is its main strength.
The second point is about job creation. The hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Mr. Brake) rightly linked job creation with environment-friendly initiatives and economic development. We have all had the figures quoted at us as to how many jobs the Bill could create if it became law. I am sure that that is true, but the issue is how those jobs are created and where, and whom they will benefit.
11.55 am
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