Alan Simpson MP reviews the government's fuel poverty strategy one year on.

as fuel poverty issues have risen in prominence over recent years, it is sometimes easy to forget the fundamental shift that has taken place in the government's thinking in that same time.

Initially we had to argue about the existence of fuel poverty, its definition, and the best solutions. For years campaigners struggled to raise awareness of the harsh realities of having to spend 10-30 per cent of household income on heating and lighting. Despite the evidence that an average 30,000 more deaths occur in a British winter than in summer - one of the worst rates in Europe - there were still those who doubted the existence of fuel poverty. And many still had to be convinced that cold-related illnesses could be "cured" with better heating and insulation.

We've travelled a long way since then, with the greatest breakthrough coming in the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000. When this became law we were suddenly faced with a government commitment to eliminate fuel poverty within 15 years. Moreover it is tied to the acknowledgement that the only long term answer to the problem is improving domestic energy efficiency in low-income households. The debate has now shifted from policy to strategy. Indeed we have just marked the one-year anniversary of the government's Fuel Poverty Strategy. This is the blueprint for affordable warmth for the country's poorest and most vulnerable households.

Over the past year, the Parliamentary Warm Homes Group, which I chair, has scrutinised this strategy. Although colleagues from all parties and I are undoubtedly pleased that the government has made such a massive commitment to eradicating fuel poverty, our work has questioned whether the tools that the government has put in place will meet the aims of the strategy, and ultimately the obligations of the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act.

As it stands, the strategy won't eradicate fuel poverty from the UK. Resources are too few, the existing tools too limited and eligibility criteria are flawed. The strategy does not address the needs of more than two million fuel-poor households living in hard-to-heat homes or those living without access to mains gas. Households that are not in receipt of a benefit that qualifies them for energy-efficiency grant aid are still condemned to winters spent shivering in their own homes. And we still don't know for certain how effective our schemes are at lifting people out of fuel poverty.

Because the aims of the Parliamentary Warm Homes Group include offering solutions as well as criticism, we continue to investigate the contribution needed by government, local authorities, landlords, the voluntary sector and the energy industry to enable people on low incomes to keep warm at a price they can afford.

Our scrutiny of the Fuel Poverty Strategy has also highlighted the backlog of structural neglect in housing that we have yet to tackle, the need to empower local authorities to deal with it effectively and the vital importance of simplifying the vast array of funding schemes and their overlapping bureaucratic requirements.

There are also ongoing funding issues, such as challenging huge taxpayer subsidies to the nuclear industry, whilst threatening cuts in investment to energy-saving measures. Encouraging the move to clean sources of energy, especially for those fuel poor who don't have access to the cheapest forms of fuel, offers a far more imaginative direction for policy.

We must also develop a strategy that responds to recent analysis of the English House Condition Survey that reveals that some of the country's poorest homes cannot be made energy efficient at any price. Those householders may need additional income to take them out of fuel poverty or the government must consider a wider programme of clearance and rehousing.

To maintain a "reality check" on our recommendations, we continue to consult with our members - who include parliamentarians and associate members from industry, the voluntary sector and consumer bodies - and meet people who are engaged in delivery, such as local authority representatives and voluntary sector project workers.

The Parliamentary Warm Homes Group will also be seeking ways of empowering people at the local level to allow them to deliver their part of the strategy. Indeed November's Queen's Speech has offered opportunities for regional target settings in some of the forthcoming legislation.

Above all we are seeking to ensure that we don't cheat the "fuel-poor" with programmes that make government targets look good, but make little discernible difference to the health and well being of those they are meant to serve.