22:00 Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)

The scheme is administered by Ofgem. The Department for Work and Pensions has a monitoring role, and the administration costs are carried by the UK Government. Could the arrangement not simply be transferred to Northern Ireland, with the administration being carried out centrally here in Britain? It is financed by levying around £11 per annum on consumers, and Age Sector Platform has estimated that Northern Ireland could be covered by the scheme with the addition of just £1 per customer per year. This scheme was designed specifically, in the words of the Department of Energy and Climate Change,

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22:16 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Amber Rudd)

A different means of funding such a scheme may be needed for Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland already has a number of schemes in place that provide support to the fuel poor, including the sustainable energy programme, the warm homes and affordable warmth schemes, and the boiler replacement scheme. Those are in addition to the availability of cold weather payments and winter fuel payments. Also, the recent downward pressure on oil prices will come as welcome relief to the many customers in Northern Ireland using oil for heating purposes

The hon. Member for South Down raised the issue of covering administrative costs. For her information, the Department for Work and Pensions administrative costs cover only a small proportion of the cost of administering the scheme. Most costs, including the administrative costs, are borne by the suppliers. My officials in the Department of Energy and Climate Change regularly meet Northern Ireland Executive officials to discuss fuel poverty issues. However, as fuel poverty is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive, they decide their own fuel poverty objectives and policies.

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