Miatta Fahnbulleh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  Let me reassure my hon. Friend that we are absolutely working to ensure that the lessons learned from the schemes we inherited are applied to the warm homes plan as we develop it, and that we put in place systems for checks, assurance and advice, so that consumers can have confidence. We are working across Government, because building up the supply chain and making sure that we have installers with the skills to do the work well is an absolute priority. We are working to deliver that.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  I will absolutely meet my hon. Friend to discuss spray foam insulation. Given the correspondence and parliamentary questions I have received on this issue, I offer to meet with hon. Members more broadly, because we need to ensure that we are listening to constituents. If the work was done under the green homes grant, we need to think about how we can get the system to respond as it should. I give that commitment to him and other hon. Members across the House who have cases in their constituencies and are worried about this.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  We will engage with colleagues in Northern Ireland. We are working closely with all the devolved Administrations. We are building up the evidence base on what happened and thinking about our response, and we are keen to share with other authorities any insights that we gain.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member, and I am again glad to hear that she agrees we need a big overhaul of the system, which is absolutely our focus and our commitment. On other measures under ECO and GBIS, audits are not finding the same scale of systemic problems. We think the problem is focused on solid wall insulation in particular. We are doing stress tests and additional audits of other measures to make sure, but we think there is a specific problem with those measures, so we are focusing on them and moving at pace to get them remediated. Where we are finding major issues, we are setting expectations that that work is prioritised, and installers are coming in and remediating it as soon as possible. Under the existing publicly available specification framework, remediation after installers have not put the work right has to be done within 12 weeks, and we are setting the expectation so the system moves at pace to respond to consumers. We will absolutely be looking to prioritise households in fuel poverty and vulnerable households. We are doing two things: we are contacting them, but we will also create the ability for people to reach out if they are worried or vulnerable, so that we are doing the necessary triaging and, critically, getting into properties to fix work that has not been done right.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  I would say to the right hon. Gentleman that the status quo is not fit for purpose. He says we should not take action, yet the last Government presided over the worst energy crisis we have seen for a generation. Over the past two and a half years, we saw his model result in record energy bills. The Conservatives were willing and content to accept that, and they thought it was tenable. It is not acceptable to us. Our view is that we have to wean ourselves off our over-reliance on global fossil fuel markets that are volatile and that, critically, will not guarantee lower bills. We are committed to delivering clean power—yes, because it delivers on our climate requirements, but critically because we think that that is the route by which we will deliver homes that are warmer and cheaper for consumers. At the heart of everything we are doing is ensuring that consumers—who rely on energy not because it is a luxury good, but because it is absolutely foundational—have energy at stable prices that they can access and afford. This is not a status quo we are willing to accept, and that is why we are taking action.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for all the work he has done on this, and for engaging with me and my Department. We are aware of instances where companies have folded so as not to deliver on their obligation to remediate work, and have then set up again. We are putting in place processes through the certification bodies to mitigate that, with a clear expectation that companies will not be taken on by another certification body if they do not get the work right. Our priority at the moment is solid wall insulation, because that is where we think there is an immediate problem with ECO and GBIS. We are aware, from Members contacting us, of the wider issues that need to be addressed. I come back to the fact that we understand that the system has not been working for consumers. Quite frankly, the quality—and quality assurance—across the system has been far too fragmented and patchy. Critically, consumer protection has not been underscored in the way it needs to be. We are looking to overhaul the system, and we are conscious that there are issues with other schemes and are thinking about the best way in which we can resolve them.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Member is right to highlight the important role that local authorities can play. Across the country, including in Wales, where local authorities or regional government are overseeing this work and providing additional quality and checks, we are not seeing the same scope of problems. We are looking at this in the round. We are clear that the status quo is not fit for purpose and that we must put in additional checks, balances and assurances. We think there are lessons to be learned from what is happening in Wales and Scotland, and what is happening in regional and local government.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his avid and consistent campaigning on these issues. As he knows, there is an ongoing investigation into the case of SSB Law at the moment. To answer my hon. Friend’s specific question, for any insulation that is installed under Government schemes, we expect that the system will kick in and respond. We are aware of cases that have been raised with TrustMark and other bodies, and we are working to make sure those are remediated. Where the insulation has not been installed under a Government scheme—we have examples of that, where constituents have engaged with insulation schemes that are not Government schemes—there is a different set of mechanisms. We are working with the system to make sure we are responding to households, because as I have said, this is not the fault of individual households; the system is not working properly. We are going to prioritise Government schemes, because we have the levers, but we recognise that there is an issue for households that have had work done outside Government schemes.

• 23 Jan 2025 · ECO4 and Insulation Schemes · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to highlight the problems we are finding across the piece. We are clear that the system we inherited is not fit for purpose. It is a patchwork of disjointed, fragmented regulation and consumer protection, it is frankly a nightmare for consumers to navigate through, and it is not fit for purpose. There has to be a root and branch overview of how the system works. Our priority is to ensure that if consumers choose to do home upgrades, it is as easy as possible for them to navigate the system, and they can have quality. The difference between this Government and the previous one is that we believe there is a role for Government. There has to be a guiding mind overseeing home upgrades across the piece, and we must ensure that the system is delivering for consumers.

• 22 Jan 2025 · Draft Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I would love to give the right hon. Gentleman a number, but as it is not fully in our gift, because we are working with industry partners to get to the scale we want to achieve, I will refrain from doing so at the moment. But will he please be absolutely reassured that we are trying to run at pace? I see the huge potential of heat networks. They are a way in which we can not only decarbonise our urban centres, but fundamentally lower bills for large numbers of consumers. We are doing everything we can to reassure industry, put incentives in place and ensure that we have a regulatory framework that absolutely works for industries and for consumers so that we can get to 20% sooner rather than later. Let me say a little about how the draft regulations will apply parts 1 and 2 of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 with some modifications to apply them to heat networks. They will create the roles of consumer advocacy bodies for heat network consumers, which will be key to providing access to advice. They will also extend the Energy Ombudsman’s redress scheme to heat network consumers. The draft regulations will automatically enrol all heat networks into the scheme. Hon. Members may have noted that the commencement dates for some of the provisions are slightly different. That is because delays to the passage of the Energy Act mean that Ofgem cannot commence regulatory activities before January 2026. To ensure that heat network consumers are afforded some support before then, because we know that that is critical, we are establishing the roles of consumer advocacy, advice and redress scheme providers earlier: in April 2025. Finally, the draft regulations will make amendments to the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021 to ensure that Ofgem can regulate consistently across Great Britain. My Department has consulted extensively with counterparts in the Scottish Government to reach agreement on those amendments. The content of the draft regulations is based on two consultations: a 2020 consultation on creating a market framework and a 2023 consultation on consumer protection. Across both consultations, broad support was expressed for the structures that are being created in the draft regulations. The content of the authorisation conditions is still being consulted on; the outcomes will be published before the authorisation regime commences. The draft regulations are the first step to introducing comprehensive regulation to the heat networks market. I am absolutely committed to ensuring robust consumer protections across the energy sector, because we have to maintain the confidence and the trust of consumers. Heat networks have huge potential to transform clean power, as I am sure everyone in this room agrees. Delivering cheap and efficient heat across the country is an absolute priority. The draft regulations will pave the way for a fairer industry that does not grow at the cost of consumers.

• 22 Jan 2025 · Draft Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I thank hon. Members for their valuable contributions to the debate. It is great to see cross-party consensus on these important regulations. The heart of our approach has been putting consumers front and centre in our energy transition. I reassure the Committee that that is not unique to heat networks; it is the approach that we are taking in every realm of the heat transition and the energy transition as we sprint to clean power by 2030. The draft regulations will begin the process of ensuring that existing and future heat network consumers both get a fair deal. I know of cases in my constituency, and in the constituencies of hon. Members I have spoken to across the House, where that is not happening, so we need to move at pace to ensure that it does. I am excited about the potential of heat networks and what they can achieve, both for people’s pockets and, critically, for regenerating our urban areas. I hope that the consensus that we have achieved in this Committee Room today will continue in future debates as we move on to other areas of the energy transition. Question put and agreed to.

• 22 Jan 2025 · Draft Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  We are running at the roll-out of heat networks. We want to get to 20%—for me, that is the minimum level to reach by 2050—and we want to make huge progress in this Parliament. That means getting the investment framework right, so we are talking to industry and are thinking about what investment looks like so that we can scale it up in the UK. We are trying to create a regime in which local authorities can work in a co-ordinated way to incentivise the roll-out of heat networks in their patch. Critically, we are putting in a regulatory framework, because in the end we need consumers, whether they are commercial or domestic, to have faith and confidence that heat networks will deliver for them. The draft regulations are critical to showing people that a heat network is not just good for heating their home, but good for their pockets.

• 22 Jan 2025 · Draft Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 28 November 2024. As heat networks have not yet been debated in this Parliament, I want to say a few words about the context for the draft regulations. Some 23% of the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions come from heating buildings, so decarbonising heat is key to reaching our net zero commitments and to reducing our reliance on international fossil fuels as we sprint to clean power by 2030. Heat pumps and heat networks are the two principal technologies that we believe will achieve that. We believe that heat networks will be key to reducing bills for the next generation. Their energy can be drawn from large, efficient heat pumps or even from heat that would otherwise be dumped into the air, such as from data centres and waste incinerators. Heat networks, which have been proven internationally to provide affordable low-carbon heat, are especially suited to dense urban areas. The Government therefore expect that about 20% of the UK’s heat demand will be met by heat networks by 2050, up from 3% today. I have visited Mersey Heat in Liverpool and seen at first hand the huge potential of heat networks, not just to benefit consumers but, critically, to regenerate our urban centres. Alongside growing the market for heat networks, we need to ensure that the 470,000 households supplied by heat networks today, as well as the many households that will be connected in future, can receive a fair deal as the market grows. One of the biggest barriers is that heat networks are inconsistently regulated. As people on heat networks cannot change their supplier, heat networks are effectively a monopoly with a captive market, which makes it harder to ensure that consumers are treated fairly. Through lots of conversations with consumer groups and through Government-commissioned research, we can identify gaps where the current market is not providing consumers with a fair service, heating is less reliable, suppliers are less transparent and it is harder for consumers to represent themselves or make complaints. The current situation is clearly intolerable. These are not just consumers, but people trying to keep themselves healthy and warm and trying to live their life. I spoke to the Association for Decentralised Energy in October about the need to ensure that these people are at the very heart of the energy market transition that we need to make and at the very heart of how we think about heat networks. The Energy Act 2023 provides powers for the Secretary of State to introduce regulations across Great Britain that will protect heat network consumers comparably to consumers of other regulated utilities. The draft regulations are the first step in introducing this regulatory framework. They will introduce an authorisation regime to be implemented by Ofgem, which will work in a similar way to the gas and electricity licensing regimes that Ofgem already regulates. They take an outcomes-based approach to reflect heat networks’ diversity of scale and their nascent market position. The draft regulations will ban running a heat network without an authorisation. To phase in market regulation, existing heat networks will automatically be given an authorisation. The conditions for authorisation are set by either the Secretary of State or Ofgem and apply rules for running a heat network. Ofgem will be able to monitor compliance with the regulations and act where appropriate. Actions that Ofgem can take include issuing information notices for compliance data, investigating suspected non- compliance, inspecting commercial premises and issuing a range of orders to require remedial action. Consumer redress orders can also be issued to require that affected consumers be given compensation. The draft regulations will require Ofgem to publish statements of policy on how powers are used. Penalties will be proportionate to the authorised person’s size and the scale of harm that their non-compliance has caused. Additionally, the draft regulations will give Ofgem powers to set standards of performance for heat networks, determining minimum performance levels of service provision to consumers.

• 13 Jan 2025 · Draft Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2024 · Hansard source

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  What happened to that guy, indeed. It is a shame to see the Conservative party flip-flopping rather than doing what it knows is right for the country and right for consumers. Question put.

• 13 Jan 2025 · Draft Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2024 · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester. We absolutely will approach it in that way. We know that we cannot do this on our own, and that we must work in collaboration with industry—that is what has got us to this point. My hon. Friend is completely right to point out the flip-flopping from the Conservatives. Let me quote what the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine said about the clean heat market mechanism when he was in government: “The Government back the dynamism of industry to meet the needs of British consumers, which is why we are taking a market-based approach that puts industry at the heart of leading a transformation of the UK heating market, while keeping consumers in the driving seat with choice. Through the planned low-carbon heat scheme—the clean heat market mechanism—we will provide the UK’s world-leading heating appliance industry with a policy framework that provides the confidence and incentive to invest in low-carbon appliances. That will make heat pumps a more attractive and simpler choice for growing numbers of British households.” –– [ Official Report, Energy Public Bill Committee, 6 June 2023; c. 145.] That was when the hon. Member was enlightened.

• 13 Jan 2025 · Draft Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2024 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2024. The regulations were laid before the House on 21 November 2024. It is this Government’s mission to deliver warmer homes that are cheaper to run. Low-carbon heating is key to our efforts to lower emissions. It is also central to how we alleviate fuel poverty. Our goal is to make energy fair and affordable for all by strengthening the nation’s energy security and by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and international markets that we cannot control. That is at the heart of everything that we are trying to do as a Department. We have experienced a particularly cold start to 2025 and we can no longer afford to leave consumers facing high energy bills and cold, draughty homes. That is why we are charting a way forward through our warm home plan: a new approach that will result in millions of homes being upgraded and lower energy bills for families across the country. At the same time, it will back British businesses and create new opportunities for jobs and skills in every part of the country. We are running at this. We have already set in motion the development of new standards for minimum energy efficiency in the private and social rented sectors that will lift 1 million people out of fuel poverty. We have announced changes to planning restrictions—including the removal of the outdated 1 metre rule—that will make it easier for people to install heat pumps. We are expanding our boiler upgrade scheme, almost doubling the budget to £295 million for next year, so that more people can have access to support for installing heat pumps, and we are working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to make sure that we are building future-proof new homes. Making the transition to cleaner, cheaper heating is one of the most important challenges that we face as a country. We are absolutely determined to make that transition in a way that is ambitious, achievable and, critically, absolutely affordable for consumers. Every household deserves the security of a home that they can afford to heat and we believe heat pumps have a key role to play in that. Heat pumps are, on average, three times more efficient than gas boilers and are powered by electricity that becomes cleaner every year as the share of renewables on the grid grows. Heat pumps can therefore slash the level of energy we use for heating and reduce our reliance on gas. That reliance cannot be overstated: nearly half of the UK’s total natural gas consumption every year is currently used for heating buildings, producing roughly a quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed changes to our energy system will not happen overnight but it is important that we communicate that this is part of a long-term plan, and that we will keep this as a key priority. Nowhere is that more important than the critical work we must do with business as we make this transition. It is essential that the businesses that we work with, throughout the supply chain, know that they can put in the steps they need to build skills, and that they will have incentives and support to deliver this transition, and to do the critical job of helping households benefit from the switch to the cleaner, more efficient heating that we believe heat pumps can provide. That is why, in addition to direct support for heat pump installations through schemes like the boiler upgrade scheme, the warm homes social fund and the warm homes local grant, we are providing investment in home-grown heat pump production through the heat pump investment accelerator competition. It is also why we are supporting installers through the heat training grant and why we are stimulating further investment in the supply chain by introducing the clean heat market mechanism with this instrument. Since taking office, we have taken steps to engage with and listen to all parts of industry about the overall approach that we need to take on this policy. We are committed to continuing those conversations in the months and years ahead, including in relation to the clean heat market mechanism. We are proposing a reformed scheme that will provide the UK’s heating industry with the stability, clarity and policy direction to build a strong and resilient heat pump market that will benefit from the transition as we sprint towards low-carbon heating. The changes that we have made to the previous Government’s proposal for the mechanism will ensure that manufacturers have the time they need to scale up the supply chain and expand sales without penalising consumers. We will also need manufacturers to have the incentives and clarity to drive the innovation we need in the market, so that we can ensure we are delivering heat pumps that are cheaper and that respond to changes in the market. The scheme will require boiler manufacturers to achieve the sale and installation of a proportion of heat pumps relative to their gas and oil boiler sales or the equivalent credits from other heat pump manufacturers. For the first year of the scheme, starting on 1 April this year, this is set at 6% of relevant boiler sales. As set out in the consultation response published in November, we have also decided to reduce the payment in lieu for any missing heat pump credits to £500 for the first year from the £3,000 previously proposed. We have also aligned the periods over which boiler sales and heat pump installations will generate obligations and credits, respectively, providing manufacturers with more time to prepare. We are confident that between 2025 and 2026, the market can achieve the volume of heat pump deployment that the scheme is targeting, building on the substantial growth in sales seen in 2024. We are committed to working with industry to do the vital work of boosting demand for heat pumps and ensuring that it is as easy and painless as possible for consumers to go on this journey with us. We are committed to ensuring that the transition to clean, affordable heating works for homes and businesses. That means having consumers firmly in our mind’s eye as we develop policy in this area and ensuring that we are working in lockstep with industry. That will be at the heart of our approach in the warm home plan. The statutory instrument is just one part of our overall strategy for delivering homes that are warm and cheaper to run, but it is an important part of how we deliver warmer homes with lower energy bills. It signals our ambition to tackle fuel poverty, which is still experienced by far too many people in this country, as we make that vital sprint, as we must, to clean power by 2030.

• 13 Jan 2025 · Draft Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2024 · Hansard source

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  When the Conservative party was in government, it was willing to see sky-high energy bills. The reality in this country today is that, quite frankly, many people cannot afford the cost of energy. That is the reality that the Conservatives were happy to deal with, but it is not a reality that we believe is either tenable or acceptable, and it is one that we are determined to change. That is why we are making the sprint to clean power and are determined to deliver a warm home plan that can deliver cheaper and warmer homes for consumers across the country. I will address some points that are quite frankly wrong. First, there will be no compulsion to impose heat pumps. Our job as a Government is to work with industry to make them as attractive a proposition for consumers as we can. We will not force people to adopt them, but we believe that heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas boilers and will be an attractive proposition for consumers. We saw demand for our boiler upgrade scheme reach record levels in 2024, because consumers are starting to realise what we know from the evidence base: that this proposition absolutely works for their pocket and for their homes. Our job is to ensure that not just wealthy households but every single household across the country can benefit from it. To debunk the second point made by the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, this is absolutely not a tax. There is no requirement for industry to impose costs on consumers. We have worked very hard with industry to reform the proposal put forward by the Conservative party, which industry absolutely hated, to get to a proposition that we believe will do the job of incentivising the market for heat pumps, as everyone recognises we need to do, while protecting consumers. Finally, we have to get to the right solution for every household in the end. We are not ideological about this. We care about getting consumers warmer homes and lower energy bills, and we will find a range of solutions that mean that where heat pumps work—we think that they will work in the majority of households, including in rural households—we will make it as easy as possible for consumers to adopt them. Where there is a need for alternative technologies, we are keeping those technologies under review so we can ensure the right solution for every single household. The status quo is not tenable, nor should the Conservative party be proud of it. Quite frankly, it is a status quo that we are absolutely disgusted to have inherited. Our job is to take the country on the journey that we need, which is why we will not resile from driving forward with our clean power mission. In the end, we have to take ourselves off the rollercoaster of international fossil fuel markets over which we have no control. That is why we will drive forward our warm home plan. Heat pumps and the clean heat market mechanism will be a key part of that. I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Heat Batteries: Decarbonising Homes · Hansard source

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  I thank everyone for their insightful contributions, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan), who I know works hard for her constituents, for bringing this issue to our attention. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point to the inheritance that we are grappling with. The reality is that for too many people, energy is simply unaffordable. That is a reality that the last Government were willing to accept; it is not one that we think is tenable or that we are willing to accept. Every voice, every piece of new technology and every benefit must be considered as we try to reduce our reliance on gas and make our way forwards towards clean power by 2030, so I thank my hon. Friend for her research and work on heat batteries. Heating our homes via low-carbon means is key to our efforts to tackle not just emissions but fuel poverty and the high cost of living that is biting across the country. As we enter the colder months of 2025, we are acutely aware of the financial pressures that families are under when heating their homes, which is why it is critical that we continue to move quickly towards cheaper, cleaner and more secure methods of heating homes for everyone across the country. The Government were elected on an energy promise: to deliver warmer homes with lower energy bills for families across the country. Decent homes are the foundation of decent lives, and our warm homes plan is driven by the simple principle that every household deserves the security of a home that they can afford to heat.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Heat Batteries: Decarbonising Homes · Hansard source

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  I will go on to outline the steps that we are taking, because we recognise that the plan is critical to dealing with the challenges across the country. I want to emphasise why we got here; my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall made that point very well. Let us remember that Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine exposed our country to our egregious over-reliance on international gas markets. When prices rocketed, the British people suffered. That is why we have made our strategy to reduce reliance on gas a central plank of this Government, and we can do that in two ways. First, we want to reduce reliance on gas within the electricity system. One of the Prime Minister’s key missions is to make Britain a clean energy superpower. We have taken immediate action by lifting the ban on onshore wind within our first 72 hours in government, setting up the new mission control at the heart of Government, and setting up Great British Energy—a publicly owned company that will invest in clean home-grown energy. Secondly, we want to reduce our reliance on natural gas for directly heating our homes, which is why this debate is so important. Over 80% of UK homes currently use gas, which is one of the highest proportions in the world. Cleaner heating is therefore a huge part of Britain’s path to energy independence. The good news is that if we get this right—there is a lot we need to do to get it right—it is also a route for us to deliver cheaper energy for people’s homes. Although other technologies such as heat batteries might have a role to play—I will say more about that technology specifically in a second—we already know that heat pumps can be an effective and affordable way of moving forward. We know that heat pumps are three times more efficient than traditional gas boilers, and because they run on electricity, people can achieve lower bills by integrating them with smart tariffs. To the point made by the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke), we understand that we need to do more work to make sure that it is cost-effective for people who make the choice to have clean heat. Thinking about the balance between gas prices and electricity prices is a key part of how we try to do that. Heat pump uptake is increasing. Figures for the boiler upgrade scheme show that the number of applications and redemptions in October 2024 was the highest of any month since the scheme began. Critically for hon. Members who raised key questions about rural communities and homes that are off grid, we think that heat pumps are a viable option in rural communities. Actually, 54% of BUS grants went to homes in rural communities, so consumers agree with us. We now need to make it as easy and viable as possible for people to go on this journey. That is why we are announcing and putting in place a raft of measures to help us to accelerate the pace of our warm homes plan. We have removed the outdated 1-metre rule, giving households more flexibility to install heat pumps. We are almost doubling the boiler upgrade scheme budget for next year to £295 million. We are looking at further ways in which we can make the up-front cost of installing a heat pump much cheaper, drawing on some of the real innovation in the market, such as Kensa, which my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall mentioned. We are supporting the supply chain by introducing a reformed clean heat market mechanism on 1 April this year. We are investing more than £5 million in Ideal Heating as the first award from our heat pump investment accelerator competition, and we are doing the critical job of training installers through our heat training grant. Let me come to heat batteries. We recognise that heat pumps will be the solution for many households and we need to make sure that they are as easy and affordable as possible for those households to install, but we also recognise that for some households they will not be the right solution. We also know that the landscape is changing massively, with innovation and new technology in train. That is why I can confirm that the Government are keeping several alternative electric heating technologies under close review as the supporting evidence develops. For us, this is about taking a technology-agnostic view on the market, pairing the most suitable technology with the home. We recognise that heat batteries are a promising alternative electric heating technology. That is why we have launched the homes for net zero project, which is aiming to monitor the performance of up to 50 heat batteries in existing homes. We are expecting the results of that later this year. The key thing for us as we make the decision is whether it is a good deal for consumers. Is it efficient, is it cost-effective, and does it deliver the right outcomes—the outcomes that we need to see in people’s homes? As we build that evidence base and we build our confidence that it is the right proposition for consumers, we will look to review the policy framework, including subsidies, as we move forward. Let me come to the warm homes plan. The Government are committed to being bold and ambitious to deliver the progress that we know is so badly needed on this agenda. When we were elected, we were clear that we needed to get straight back to work with the warm homes plan. In September, we announced plans that would lift more than 1 million households out of fuel poverty, by consulting on the minimum energy efficiency standards for all rented homes. We also announced new schemes to help, in particular, low-income households—homeowners and private renters. This is through our warm homes local grant and our warm homes social housing fund, which closed for applications last November. We have confirmed £1 billion from the national wealth fund, Barclays UK corporate bank and Lloyds Banking Group to support housing associations to provide warmer, more energy-efficient homes. In November, we went further. Alongside the policies that I have talked about, we confirmed initial funding for our warm homes plan, which means that next year up to 300,000 homes will benefit from upgrades, backed by £3.2 billion of investment. In December, we worked with housing colleagues to launch a major consultation on energy performance certificate reforms, which aims to deliver fundamental improvements so that the system better supports both consumers and our wider ambitions. Let me conclude by saying that this Government understand the urgency of the situation, so we are moving at pace. That means that we are open-minded and collaborative. We are willing to work with anyone who will help us to drive the transition at the pace and scale that we need. I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall can see that that is absolutely at the heart of the approach that we are taking. I look forward to working with her, with industry colleagues and with other Members across the House to think about the innovation and the steps that we need to take to make progress on this agenda, so that in the end we do the thing that we were elected to do, which is to ensure that we are delivering on the energy promise that we committed— Motion lapsed (Standing Order No. 10( 6 )).

• 17 Dec 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  We know that the quality of too many of our homes in the private rented sector is not high enough. That is why we are moving forward to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards, so that we can raise those standards, lifting 1 million people out of fuel poverty. We are running in order to get that done.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  I suggest that the hon. Lady actually reads the report. On page 77, the NESO sets out in black and white the system costs of a clean power system, and then what it calls “Bill components resulting from clean power pathways” and “Other bill changes”. The total impact in 2030 is to reduce electricity costs by £10 per megawatt-hour. Of course, as the NESO says, it is for the Government to make the policy choices to reduce energy bills—which we will—but it is absolutely clear that our clean power plan will reduce system costs.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  I share the frustration of my hon. Friend’s constituents. The scale of fuel poverty in this country is a shameful legacy of the last Government’s 14 years of failure. It is a legacy that we are determined to turn around through our warm homes plan and our winter support package, and we will do everything we can to make sure that cold, draughty homes are a thing of the past.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is completely right. Too many people cannot afford their energy bills— [ Interruption. ] That is your legacy. That is why we are running to deliver clean energy by 2030 and rolling out our warm homes plan, so that we can upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  We are getting on with delivering our warm homes plan. We are set to upgrade up to 300,000 homes next year. We are introducing new standards in the private rented sector and the social rented sector that will lift 1 million people out of fuel poverty, and we are making it easier for people to install heat pumps by removing planning restrictions, expanding our boiler upgrade scheme so that more people can get a discount and boosting the heat pump industry.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  We are working very closely with Housing, Communities and Local Government Ministers to deal with the future homes standard. We recognise that the fact we are building homes that are not up to the standard is a problem, and we are getting on with fixing it.