- A fully compliant procurement exercise has taken place recommending the appointment of GSR Heating Ltd and Kensa Contracting Ltd on a cost and quality (40%/60%) scored basis as well as the direct award to E.On Installations Services through the Fusion 21 procurement framework (please see attached procurement reports for further information).

- Warm Homes Fund projects seek to alleviate fuel poverty for eligible residents in the county via the installation of more efficient and economic heating systems;

- Fuel Poverty affects around 10,000 households in the county (12.2%). This figure is higher than the national level of 10.9% and reflects the challenges that the county faces in relation to the energy efficiency of properties including a large proportion of older, hard to treat properties and restricted access to mains gas due to the rural nature of the county

- Decreasing fuel poverty can be linked to increasing housing standards as well as health and wellbeing. Inequalities in a range of health issues can be tracked to the quality of housing; examples include the link between respiratory disease and dampness and mould, and excess winter deaths and poor insulation and space heating. In relation to illness due to cold housing for example, BRE estimate an annual cost of at least £145 million to the NHS (The Health Costs of Cold Dwellings, BRE, 2001).

- Housing also accounts for around a quarter of the County’s carbon dioxide emissions and therefore by helping to improve the energy efficiency of heating systems in properties, the Warm Homes Fund projects will contribute to climate change reduction targets.