AM raises issue of fuel poverty

North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood welcomed new fuel poverty initiatives in Flintshire and Denbighshire when speaking in the Assembly chamber and said it is crucial that people are made aware of the help they, and other fuel poverty schemes, provide.   

 

Mr Isherwood, who is Chair of the Assembly Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty, referred to Flintshire’s  Affordable Warmth Scheme and Denbighshire’s Fuel Poverty Action Plan when questioning the Minister for Natural Resources and Food on Welsh Government Action to tackle Fuel Poverty.

 

Mr Isherwood said: “Although schemes such as Flintshire’s Affordable Warmth Scheme and Denbighshire’s Fuel Poverty Action Plan are welcomed - and both are newly launched - we heard at this lunch time’s meeting of the Cross-Party Group on Older People and Ageing, that older people are still often unaware of the help available and lack support in key areas, where Arbed and Nest will only ever reach 1% to 2% of fuel poor households in Wales annually.

 

“How, therefore, do you respond to the calls that were made at that meeting today for the restoration of the Fuel Poverty Ministerial Advisory Group in Wales, alongside those elsewhere in the UK, and for the Welsh Government to raise its fuel poverty game beyond Arbed and Nest, welcome though they are?”

 

In his reply the Minister agreed with Mr Isherwood that it is crucial to ensure that “people who can benefit from fuel poverty schemes are able to do so, and have the knowledge of the schemes and information about those schemes to enable them to take full advantage of their access to those programmes.”