Dear Sir or Madam,
With reference to the Warmfront Scheme:
1) How many complaints have Warmfront received in the last two
years?

2) What percentage of these complaints were regarding incorrect
boiler installations?

3) Are the installers chosen by Warmfront,the schemes preferred
suppliers?

4) As suppliers of Government services are Warmfront/Warmsure/Eaga
subject to the Goods and Services Act

5) What percentage of Warmfront's implementation costs were
allocated for subsequent repair work by their preferred suppliers?

6) Do Warmfront/Warmsure/Eaga seek tender bids from preferred
suppliers

Yours faithfully,

D. Speers

Dear D. Speers

Thank your for your enquiry. We have checked our records and established
that we don't hold the information you requested. Defra at
www.defra.gov.uk might be in a position to help.

Regards

Information Rights Team

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Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Energy
and Climate Change's handling of my FOI request 'Warmfront Scheme'.

I am unhappy about your response to my recent FOI request and am
seeking further information via an independent review. I was
advised by Warmfront to contact DECC and you have referred me to
the DEFRA....and I shall also try there. But I believe that DECC is
the correct Department and I asked "How many complaints have
Warmfront received in the last two years?" and you responded that
"the information was not held"

On reflection you may not know how many complaints Warmfront had
but as the correct Dept you cerainly must be aware how many
complaints DECC have had about Warmfront. This was confirmed
recently in an answer to a Parliamenray question on 4th June 2009.
DECC were certainly aware because as the answer they gave via the
Minister will confirm "The Department has only recorded the number
of complaints it has received about Warmfront since the beginning
of April this year. Up until the end of may, DECC has received 275
expressions of disatisfaction with the scheme"
I realise as this information has now been published DECC dont
technically have to release it again under FOI but you do have a
public duty to assist me please. In seeking further answers as well
as an Internal Reviwe I need the other questions fully addressed
please

2) What percentage of these 275 complaints were regarding incorrect
boiler installations?

3) Are the installers chosen by Warmfront,the schemes preferred
suppliers?

4) As suppliers of Government services are Warmfront/Warmsure/Eaga
subject to the Goods and Services Act

5) What percentage of Warmfront's implementation costs were
allocated for subsequent repair work by their preferred suppliers?

6) Do Warmfront/Warmsure/Eaga seek tender bids from preferred
suppliers

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wa...

Yours sincerely,

D. Speers

Dear Mr Speers

Thank you for your request for information about the Warm Front scheme,
which was received by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills on
5 June. Unfortunately your request was not properly forwarded. Your
request was not received by the Fuel Poverty team in the Department of
Energy and Climate Change until 6 July. I apologise for this delay. We are
dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

As required by the legislation, we aim to answer your request within 20
working days from the date we received it. However on this occasion we
will be unable to meet this deadline because of the delay in forwarding
your request.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely

Rishi Pather

Mr Rishi Pather

Fuel Poverty Team

Department of Energy and Climate Change
+ Zone 1d, 3 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HH

( 0300 068 5159

[mobile number]
: [email address]

Dear Pather, Rishi (DECC - CEEH),

Many thanks for your contact and you will note I have sent a
reminder on FOI deadlines. I am concerned that this request was
wrongly forwarded and ask if this is a training need identified?
I look forward to a comprehensive response shortly.

Yours sincerely,

D. Speers

Dear Mr Speers

Thank you for your request for information about the Warm Front Scheme, which was received on 6 July 2009. I provide a response to your questions:

1) How many complaints have Warm Front received in the last two years?

eaga plc, the Scheme Manager for the Warm Front Scheme received 5,321complaints in 2008-09 and 1,422 complaints, to date, in 2009-10.

2) What percentage of these complaints were regarding incorrect boiler installations?

eaga plc received 1,433 complaints in 2008-09 and 144 complaints, to date, in 2009-10 regarding boiler installations.

3) Are the installers chosen by Warm Front, the scheme’s preferred suppliers?

Installers are appointed to work on the Warm Front Scheme via a competitive tender process.

4) As suppliers of Government services are Warm Front/ WarmSure/ eaga subject to the Goods and Services Act

Yes

5) What percentage of Warm Front's implementation costs were allocated for subsequent repair work by their preferred suppliers?

The cost of any remedial work that needs to be undertaken following installation is met by the installer and not the Warm Front Scheme.

6) Do Warm Front/ WarmSure/ eaga seek tender bids from preferred suppliers?

See response to Q3. The competitive tender process is open to all installers who feel they meet the criteria required to work on the Scheme.

Yours sincerely

Rishi Pather

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Dear Pather, Rishi (DECC - CEEH),

Many thanks for your response and the figures you quote are indeed
very worrying. I would argue that a scheme receiving an average of
443 complaints per month per annum, of which 203 per month are
related to boiler installations is fundamentally flawed and must be
addressed. Maybe the final sentence would give a clue as to where
the problem may be?:

" The competitive tender process is open to all installers who feel
they meet the criteria required to work on the Scheme."

Should maybe the criteria be be left to chance? set by the scheme?
or should the installers have to provide evidence of compliance
before undertaking work in people's homes?

Thanks again

Yours sincerely,

D. Speers