Mark Lazarowicz: Edinburgh North & Leith

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	Building for energy efficiency
	Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh, North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op): The House will be aware of proposals from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for low-cost, affordable housing, which I am sure we all welcome. Will the Minister be ensuring that the low-cost housing provided under that scheme will be built to the highest energy-efficiency standards, so that the long-term costs take account of the needs that my hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow (Mr. Hepburn) outlined in his question? The Minister for Climate Change and the Environment (Mr. Elliot Morley): Yes, I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. We are talking to organisations such as the Building Research Establishment about better standards of building. I had the opportunity of seeing some of the possible designs at the recent conference organised in Manchester by the ODPM. To have the very highest energy- efficiency standards does not add a great deal to the cost of new buildings, and even if there are additional costs, they are of course recovered by lower fuel bills over time.

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	9th June 2005, Column 1382-3