My Lords, to continue with my responses, the noble Baroness, Lady Liddell, asked about ECO and what was contained within it. Within ECO, energy suppliers will provide fully subsidised measures under the affordable warmth obligation to low-income, vulnerable households. We estimate that around 230,000 low-income households can be supported each year through ECO, so there will be no up-front cost through the affordable warmth obligation to low-income households.
Again, I am extremely grateful for the support of the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, although I would say that, rather than sticking in his throat, it was a gentle hiccup. Through the Green Deal and ECO we are endeavouring to reach out and get to those households that would benefit the most. Again, I point the noble
Lord to the £540 million that is being made available though the affordable warmth obligation and the carbon-saving communities obligation. We also have the warm home discount, with the overall effect that all consumer bills will be lower than they otherwise would have been had these measures not come into place.
The noble Lord also asked about the reduction in government funding for fuel poverty. Funding for fuel poverty has not been reduced over the spending review. Total spending on fuel poverty is being increased and by 2014-15 we expect to see spending on the warm home discount at £310 million and spending on ECO will be at least the £540 million that I said—up around 10% on 2009-10.
My noble friend Lord Deben rightly recognised fuel poverty in poor rural parts of the country. I completely agree with him that we need to make sure that the measurements we take help us to respond to those in rural households facing fuel poverty so that they are also able to benefit from our measures. The average fuel poverty gap in poor rural areas is £558 compared with £361 in other areas. In underpinning the new target, we need to reflect in other strategy how we will approach the fuel poor in rural areas. When it comes to consultation, I hope my noble friend will be able to assist us in that.
My noble friend Lady Maddock asked about the private rented sector and fuel poverty. Again, I recognise as she does the importance of ensuring that we work closely on regulations so that the private landlord sector is not omitted. From April 2018, landlords will not be able to rent out any property that does not meet the minimum efficiency ratings, subject to the provisions already present in the Energy Act 2011.
The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, said that while he sort of welcomed the measures instead of shillings pennies were being dropped. I will try to convince him that rather than shillings we need to talk about pounds being dropped. We recognise that we have to eradicate any kind of poverty but current methods—targets—are not working. Realistically, we need to see how we can reduce it to get to the point of seeing poverty eradicated. I need to make it clear that we are not abandoning fuel poverty targets. We are improving them and enhancing our delivery of meeting them. Our amendments increase certainty that successive Governments will keep this issue at the top of their agendas. This is a cross-party issue. I think all those sat in the Committee today recognise that successive Government have failed. We need to make progress.
On publishing fuel poverty statistics, I am happy to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, that we intend to use the Hills fuel poverty gap and publish the relevant statistics. We will also use our annual fuel poverty statistics publication to record figures using the old 10% indicator.
The noble Lord also asked about the operational aspect of our definition. Targeting is always difficult but we hope that the new definition will open up new improvements. We currently use a number of proxies for fuel poverty, such as receipt of certain means-tested benefits. That will need to continue for some time but we know, on the ground, that local authorities and others are using a range of technologies and techniques
to identify fuel-poor households. We are currently evaluating the outcome of the £31 million fuel poverty fund that we made available to English local authorities last year, with a view to seeing what works best in terms of targeting.
The noble Lord also asked about devolved Administrations. The measurement of fuel poverty is a devolved issue. The devolved Administrations are able to measure the problem in their own ways. We continue to work very closely with our colleagues in the devolved Administrations and have explained our proposals to them.
To finish on the noble Lord’s question on the total expenditure on fuel poverty, we have recently made available information on our spending on fuel poverty, which is going up. That was in an Answer to a Question in another place, which I will share with the Committee in writing as soon as possible. With that, I hope noble Lords will accept this amendment.