AQO 1595/09

Mrs Naomi Long
Alliance Party
East Belfast

Tabled Date: 25/11/2008
Answered On Date: 08/12/2008
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Social Development for her assessment of the impact on fuel poverty of the failure of the Executive to meet for 5 months.

Answer:

In response to the rise in energy prices I established the Fuel Poverty Task Force to look at how we could assist those people most affected this Winter. I brought a paper on Tackling Fuel Poverty to the Executive in September 2008 seeking their endorsement of a number of recommendations emanating from the Task Force. The Executive has yet to form a collective view on fuel poverty. Had the Executive done so, these recommendations could have been progressed more quickly.