Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what grants and other financial support are available to help sick and terminally ill people improve home energy efficiency and replace inefficient boilers.

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is an obligation on energy suppliers, worth £640m per year, under which households in Great Britain are eligible to receive subsidised or free energy efficiency measures including boilers. From April 2017, an element of the scheme has been established under which local authorities can refer households for support. Local authorities can, for example, refer people based on their vulnerability and health conditions.

The Warm Home Discount (WHD) scheme, worth over £320m per year, provides direct financial assistance to over 2 million low income and vulnerable households each winter. Ofgem is currently consulting on introducing a price cap for WHD recipients on standard variable and default tariffs. In addition, the Government has published draft legislation to cap the prices paid by customers on standard variable and default tariffs, many of whom are vulnerable.