Bevan Foundation work on fuel poverty influences Senedd Committee

Poverty Person cold in flat
Photo by Amin Hasani on Unsplash
NewsMay 18th, 2022

Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee’s publishes the findings of its inquiry on Fuel Poverty and the Warm Homes Programme

The Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee published the findings of its inquiry into Fuel Poverty and the Warm Homes Programme on May 18. The Bevan Foundation submitted written and oral evidence to the Committee earlier in the year. We are pleased to see that our evidence is reflected in the Committee’s final report. 

In total the Committee makes 23 recommendations to the Welsh Government. Many of these closely reflect arguments made by the Bevan Foundation in our evidence and we are delighted to see the Committee have taken these on board. 

Among the Committee’s key short term recommendations that are in line with the Bevan Foundation’s calls are:

  • For the Welsh Government to undertake a review of the support offered to low-income households via the Winter Fuel Support Scheme so that improvements can be made before autumn 2022. 
  • For the Welsh Government to identify what other immediate to short- term actions or measures that it could take to help families in fuel poverty.
  • For the Welsh Government to identify which of the priority actions in its Tackling Fuel Poverty Plan can be expeditated to assist families this winter. 

The influence of the Bevan Foundation’s evidence can also be seen in the Committee’s recommendations with regards to the medium to longer term. Among the recommendations that reflect the Foundation’s evidence are:

  • That the Welsh Government should embed the ‘fabric and worst first’ approach to retrofitting, targeting the poorest households in the least fuel efficient homes, into the core principles of the next iteration of the Warm Homes Programme.
  • That the Welsh Government should develop smarter, less restrictive eligibility criteria for the Warm Homes Programme. 
  • That the Welsh Government to ensure that the next iteration of the Warm Homes Programme includes a robust data collection, monitoring, and evaluation framework.

Following the publication of the Committee’s report the Bevan Foundation’s Head of Policy (Poverty) Steffan Evans was interviewed on BBC Radio Cymru. He welcomed the committee’s findings and called on the Welsh Government to take forward the committee’s short and longer term recommendations. 

 

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