Report to the People
Free Central Heating
If, like me, you were shivering for Scotland in the severe weather last week, you have my deepest sympathy.
As I sat snow bound on the M8 for what seemed like hours, slowly freezing to the dulcet tones of Terry Wogan, I dreamt of coming home to a hot bath and a warm fire.
For too many people, however, this remains just a dream. Too many people do not come home to warm, welcoming surroundings. They come home to a house which is cold and damp.
As a result of poor insulation and inefficient heating, there are currently 700,000 households in Scotland which are victims of "fuel poverty", spending over 10% of their income on fuel.
It is to tackle this unacceptable situation that the Government has published its UK Fuel Poverty Strategy, which aims to make fuel poverty a thing of the past for vulnerable households by 2010.
As you may already be aware, as a part of this strategy, the Scottish Parliament is spending £350 million to give pensioners and social sector tenants free central heating and insulation by 2006.
This means that the 13,000 pensioners in Greenock & Inverclyde - including those who own or privately rent their homes - will, in future years, be living in warm, properly insulated homes.
I get a steady stream of enquiries at my local office from constituents asking exactly how this scheme will affect them. I was therefore pleased that more details were published last week and that the Parliament had the chance to debate them.
The programme will begin next month, with priority being given to those most at risk from cold, damp homes: the over 75s; the elderly living alone; the disabled and the long-term sick.
In the private sector, the package will be delivered under a grant scheme. To qualify, you and/or your spouse must be aged 60 or over and your house must either have no central heating, or have a central heating system which is broken beyond repair.
The package for local authority and housing association tenants is broadly the same. Here, however, the only condition to be met is that your house currently lacks any form of central heating. Your age is not taken into account. Tenants do not need to apply for a grant, but will be contacted by their landlord.
Call my local office on 791 697 if you require further information on how this scheme will affect you.
[ HOME ] [ News ] [ Calendar ] [ Contacts ] [ Links ] [ E-Mail ]
[ Copyright ] [ Open Government ] [ Scottish Parliament ]