Ritchie spells out progress against fuel poverty

The campaign against fuel poverty is making a real difference to the lives of vulnerable people, Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie MLA said today.

She was updating the Assembly on the progress that has been made. She said:

“My Department will shortly publish the results of research that shows that there has been a substantial decline in temperature-related deaths in recent years.

“Over the last twenty-five years, circulatory and respiratory deaths have been dropping, particularly in the last decade. There were nearly 8,700 fewer such deaths in the period 2000-04 than in the previous five years. Far fewer of these were linked to temperature. But the numbers are still too high.

“Much of this success is undoubtedly due to initiatives such as the Warm Homes Scheme and the Housing Executive’s improvement and maintenance programme. It is an indication of their importance that we continue to channel significant amounts of funding into them.

“In the last financial year, for example, these programmes spent approximately £44 million and as a result around 16,000 homes were provided with energy efficiency measures.

“The number of households in fuel poverty reduced from 33% in 2001 to 24% in 2004. A full survey was carried out last year and I eagerly await the findings which will be available soon. In addition, 97% of properties across the North now have some form of central heating. These results certainly do not reflect the work of a department that is complacent in tackling Fuel Poverty.

“While a great deal has been achieved, there is significantly more to do. I have re-established the Inter-Departmental Fuel Poverty Group, under my chairmanship and I am absolutely determined to take all possible measures to combat fuel poverty”.

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