12 2GM Wednesday May 25 2022 | the times
News
More than 50,000 of the poorest
households face long waits for home
energy improvements because of
delays approving the scheme, research
suggests.
The government had been due to
start the plan last month to help the
poorest households pay for energy effi-
ciency measures. However, problems
drafting the necessary legislation mean
it could be delayed until the autumn.
An analysis by the Energy and
Climate Intelligence Unit suggests that
as a result 56,000 homes could each
lose about £600.
Since 2013 the energy company obli-
gation scheme has installed more than
3.5 million improvements such as loft
insulation in 2.4 million properties and
reduced household gas demand by 20
per cent. The scheme is administered
by energy companies and paid for by a
levy on customer bills.
However, the most recent scheme
ran out at the end of March and, despite
consulting on a new one last year, the
government has failed to put the neces-
sary legislation to parliament.
Government sources have said that it
will not be ready until next month at
the earliest, while other sources have
suggested the scheme might not be
approved by MPs until September.
While the government has
announced a temporary extension,
some energy companies are under-
stood to have delayed planned work
because of concerns about how the new
arrangements will operate.
The delay has led to frustration in
Whitehall and concern that the gov-
ernment has given greater priority to
short-term fixes to deal with the recent
surge in energy prices rather than
Stormy weather Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Fein’s vice-president, Mary Lou McDonald, its president, and Conor Murphy, a
Northern Ireland assembly member, were in Westminster to talk to Tory MPs about the Northern Ireland protocolNews Politics
Energy scheme
delays to cost
UK’s poorest
a further £
investing in long-term measures to
decrease demand. At one stage last year
the Treasury discussed scrapping the
scheme to reduce the amount of green
levies on electricity bills.
Jess Ralston, senior analyst at the
Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit,
said: “With this further delay to the
highly successful insulation scheme
and the Treasury having blocked addi-
tional help for homes leaking heat,
voters struggling to pay the bills, many
of them in swing seats, will be wonder-
ing when help is coming. The recent
energy security strategy with its focus
on North Sea drilling will not bring
down bills now, but there are plenty of
roofs that still need insulating.”
Chris Skidmore, a Conservative MP
who is founder of the net zero support
group, said that it was important to
prioritise schemes that reduced energy
use, especially for those least able to
afford the increased cost. “We need to
see support for those least well off and
insulate people from the principal
driver of the cost-of-living crisis; that
being the price of gas,” he said.
“The fastest and simplest way to
tackle the cost of living crisis is to invest
in insulation which has the potential to
save between £150-£400 off energy bills
— not just a one-off saving but an
investment to permanently bring down
bills year after year.”
A government source insisted that
work was well under way on the
scheme. An energy department
spokesman said: “We have promised to
extend the energy company obligation
from 2022 to 2026, boosting its value to
£1 billion a year. This will help hundreds
of thousands of families with energy-
saving measures such as insulation,
with average energy bill savings of
around £300 a year.”Oliver Wright Policy Editor
STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PANurses ‘forced to rely on food banks’
Nurses are “unable to pay rent” and are
relying on food banks because of their
low wages, MPs were told yesterday.
Dr Denise Chaffer, president of the
Royal College of Nursing, said the nur-
sing workforce was in a “critical situa-
tion” and that poor pay was a significant
problem.
“We can’t get away from the fact of
the pay issue. We have nurses that are
unable to pay their rent, afford their
petrol to get to work... We’ve spoken to
a number of members that just cannot
get a mortgage, that are relying on food
banks. Clearly pay is obviously critical
and we can’t move away from that.”
Asked by members of the Commons
health and social care committee whe-ther she had envisaged a time when six
NHS trusts had set up food banks to
support their workforce, as has hap-
pened, Chaffer said: “No, I really didn’t.”
She said that nursing pay had been
“behind the curve for some time”, add-
ing, “We can’t afford not to address
this.” Newly qualified nurses start on an
annual salary of about £18,500.
Chaffer said that staff retention was a
“critical issue” and was having a big im-
pact on safe levels of nurses.
“We’ve got a huge problem with re-
tention.” She added: “Nurses that are
not able to give safe care is very, very
bad news for patients.
“Our concerns are particularly for
the harm it could cause the patient bynot having enough nurses. We don’t
want to see any of the scandals we’ve
seen in the past.”
Gill Walton, chief executive of the
Royal College of Midwives, told the
committee that the midwifery work-
force was also “very fragile”.
“There is still a huge shortage and in
fact there are less midwives in practice
than last year,” she said.
Walton said the NHS was “very far
off” being able to provide continuity of
care for patients. “The Royal College of
Midwives believes that gold standard is
what every woman needs but until
there [are] enough midwives in the
system it is not possible to implement in
the way that is envisaged,” she said.Quentin Letts
Put away your violins:
Kwarteng keeps it real
K
wasi Kwarteng,
unusually for today’s
politicians, does not
really do touchy-feely.
Jonathan Brearley, the
head of Ofgem, had just told the
business, energy and industrial
strategy committee that household
bills would rise by £800 and could
shoot higher yet.
Brearley made all the expected
noises after imparting this
unwelcome sum. “I know this is atheir philosophical differences
becoming apparent. Jones favoured
more state intervention and higher
taxes. Kwarteng was instinctively
suspicious of further regulation and
bigger government. More than once
he said he did not support the idea
of a windfall tax on energy
companies, yet he left wiggle room.
These were “extraordinary times”
and Rishi Sunak might conclude
that they demanded “extraordinary
measures”.
The SNP’s Alan Brown, who coos
away in the distinctive tones of
lovely Kilmarnock, flew at Kwarteng
with several questions. Around the
room, people narrowed their eyes.
Kwarteng coped with a fair amount
of it but eventually invited Brown to
“write me a letter”. Translation:
“Blimey, your accent’s chewy.”
Andy McDonald (Lab,
Middlesbrough) was cross that when
energy companies went bust (as has
been happening), the official
receivers settled with major
creditors before compensating
customers. McDonald is a Corbyn
man. He would happily see
capitalism replaced by something
more North Korean. Kwarteng,without aggression, pointed out
that unless creditors were given
priority, investment in energy
companies would shrivel and the
whole system would be banjaxed.
Charlotte Nichols (Lab,
Warrington North) read a question
off her mobile telephone: why was
the boss of an energy firm rescued
by the government still being paid
£250,000? Kwarteng shrugged.
Wasn’t ideal, he admitted, but we’d
pay more if we ditched the bloke
and hired a replacement. That was
the reality of the wicked world.
Other cabinet ministers might
have ladled on some touchy-feely
regret. They would have sawed at
their violins about energy bill rises
and would have spoken of
wrapping arms round every
citizen.
Kwarteng is bold (ie possibly
mad) not to play such three-hanky
tunes. But it is quite refreshing to
have a minister who doesn’t wail to
order. Elsewhere there is so much
fakeness: fake empathy, fake
shock, fake indignation. When you
come across a minister who
eschews all that junk, it almost
makes your ears pop.rises from somewhere near his badly
laced brogues. Apart from the way
his eyes slide about a bit behind his
Harry Palmer spectacles, he doesn’t
fidget much when talking. He cuts a
burly, brick-like figure, vaguely
detached from Westminster’s
contentious currents. He is not quite
donnish, not quite cool, remaining
calm about the day’s frenzies. He
doesn’t even seem particularly
ambitious. It’s as if he has become a
minister out of mild intellectual
curiosity. The late Grey Gowrie
emitted a similar vibe.
Kwarteng was up against Darren
Jones, chairman of the select
committee. Jones is one of Labour’s
brightest figures, polite yet crisp in
his questioning. Noting that
12 million households will struggle to
pay their energy bills, Jones asked:
“When will you announce further
help?”
Ah, help. That short word does a
lot of work at Westminster. It means
subsidy, which itself means more
taxation or borrowing, which itself
might mean more inflation, which
could lead to further demands
for... help.
The pair played a few quick rallies,very distressing time for customers.
I know this news is highly
distressing.” He assembled his
features into dutiful expressions of
anguish, all saucer eyes and pumped
lips. In the manner that has come to
be expected from prominent
functionaries, Brearley felt our pain.
Kwarteng, the business secretary,
was more perfunctory when facing
the same committee an hour later.
“Look, it’s a very difficult time,” he
grunted. “We all know people are
under huge stress. But no one’s
suggesting that the government can
pay the entirety of energy bills.”
He spoke of the rocketing gas bills
without histrionics. The onion was
left in its skin.
Kwarteng has a husky voice thatPolitical Sketch