AQW 54549/11-16

Mr Steven Agnew
Green Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 19/02/2016
Answered On Date: 23/02/2016
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister for Social Development to detail what assessment his Department has made of the levels of fuel poverty in North Down.

Answer:

Fuel Poverty in Northern Ireland is measured through the Northern Ireland House Conditions Survey. The last survey was completed in 2011 and identified that 42% of households in Northern Ireland were in fuel poverty. This was based on the definition that a household needed to spend 10% or more of its income to adequately heat and light their home.

When developing the Affordable Warmth Scheme my Department worked with the Ulster University to develop an algorithm to identify fuel poverty prevalence. The House Conditions Survey was used to support the development of the algorithm. The Housing Executive is currently developing its plans to undertake a House Conditions Survey later this year. This new data will be used to assess fuel poverty at council level.

At 31 January 2016 the Housing Executive had issued 371 approvals amounting to the value of almost £1.3M to improve the energy efficiency of households in Ards & North Down Council area.

The average approval per household amounts to around £3,500. Energy efficiency measures include new/replacement heating systems, insulation (cavity wall and loft) and replacement windows.

The Information provided in this response is governed by the Principles and Protocols of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. This is enforced by UK Statistics Authority.