YORK Outer MP Julian Sturdy has called for schemes that help people out of fuel poverty and reduce energy bills to be less bureaucratic and easier to understand and use.

The Conservative MP said one of his constituents had had to wait more than 13 months to get a new boiler to replace a broken one under the Warm Front scheme which helps people who can’t afford the changes needed to improve their homes’ insulation and heating.

“The paperwork was burdensome and the inefficiency and bureaucracy of the system beggared belief at times,” he said. “Spending on the Warm Front scheme and its predecessors has totalled £2.6 billion between 2000 and 2011, yet at a national level too many home, particularly in vulnerable communities, remain poorly heated and insulated.”

He was speaking in a House of Commons debate on the Energy Bill which includes proposals to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy bills and fuel poverty.

“I urge the ministerial team to ensure that future schemes under the new proposals are accessible to more people, easier to follow and less bureaucratic in nature,” he said.

He called for cross-party support for the proposals which give customers money to make energy efficiency changes and link repayments to energy bills at the property involved, not the individual.

He also urged the Government to make sure that the country had the energy supplies and resources it needed for the future.