Lord Whitehead (Lab)

I thank noble Lords for their valuable and apposite contributions to this debate. They were quite extensive. I will do my best to respond to them, but if I miss anything I will be happy to write to noble Lords. One particularly important element of this scheme, alluded to by a number of noble Lords, was data and data matching. One of the good things about this programme is that with data matching now as efficient as it is—as the noble Earl, Lord Russell, mentioned—probably 90% of an expanded group of potential recipients can be automatically data-matched. That is, they will not have to do anything more to receive their rebates because they have fallen into a matched category automatically. But 2% is not an insignificant amount. The Government are determined to continue to notify people who are deemed unmatched to contact the warm home discount helpline to determine their eligibility. On data matching in general, with the actions that the Government are taking in some different areas, it is likely that data matching will become even more efficient. Indeed, the Government are actively pursuing a programme called Kickstarter to analyse how data matching across departments could become more efficient and effective in future. Noble Lords, in particular the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, asked about what money counts as what for this relief. The £150 targeted as coming off energy bills—not that energy bills will not rise but that they will be £150 less than they might otherwise be—has been substantially discharged as far as the changes to legacy charges from levies to the Treasury, causing a £117 reduction in average energy bills next year. That is in addition to the £150 that will automatically go to 6 million households now through this measure. Of course, the funding that has recently gone into the cost of heating oil, particularly in rural areas and off-grid properties, is in addition to all that as well. These are not cross-cutting reductions or rebates: they are all piling up on top of each other.