Retrofitting Buildings: National Strategy

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Howell of Guildford

Thursday 9th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I could not agree more with the thrust of the noble Baroness’s question. The heat and buildings strategy is designed to provide a long-term framework for these initiatives. We are investing £2.5 billion in a national skills fund to support the immediate economic recovery and the skills needed to deliver on our net-zero targets, and we invested £6.9 million alongside the green homes grant voucher scheme to deliver over 8,000 training opportunities. We are continuing to work with businesses and key industry bodies and have launched the Green Jobs Taskforce to produce an action plan for just this sort of initiative.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, there are said to be some 23 million existing homes with gas boilers, although some people believe that the figure could be very much larger. How long will it take to tackle the conversion of all those to heat pumps or hydrogen? What is it going to cost? Is this really the best way of contributing, as we must, to tackling rising global emissions?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My noble friend will be aware of the boiler upgrade grant scheme, which was just launched in May. That will provide capital grants to support the installation of low-carbon heat technologies away from fossil-fuel heating. As for how long it will take to replace all those heat boilers, it will take time because, as my noble friend says, the task is enormous—but we are investing £6.6 billion over the course of this Parliament to improve energy efficiency and decarbonise heating.

Electricity Supplies from Europe

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Howell of Guildford

Tuesday 18th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interests as in the register. Does my noble friend accept that these electricity connectors, to and from the continent, play a vital triple role, in smoothing and increasing the reliability of our electricity supply—which is mostly low-carbon sourced—through the connectors when the wind drops or stops, in cutting our inflated energy bills and in exporting our electricity surpluses overseas when wind and solar produce too much for our immediate needs? What are the plans for further expansion of these links, both with continental Europe and elsewhere? Is the North Sea-Norway link progressing, and what about the link, which will be the longest of its kind in the world, with Iceland?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I agree entirely with the noble Lord, who speaks with great authority on this matter. The Iceland link is, I think, no longer going ahead, but I can confirm, as I said in an earlier answer, that we have 18 gigawatts of interconnected power provided for within the energy White Paper. It does indeed play a vital role in supporting a flexible decarbonising system, by rapidly responding to changes in demand and supply. Interconnection supports the integration of low-carbon generation in the UK to meet our net-zero goal. It also provides competition in the energy sector that will reduce prices and lead to lower energy bills.

Housing: New Homes

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Howell of Guildford

Thursday 27th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

We have done much to increase affordability for individuals. The affordable rent was introduced to maximise taxpayers’ money, which has allowed us to build more homes for every pound of government investment, because local authorities have had greater income at their disposal to spend on new houses. Removing the cap has also enabled them to invest much more in housing.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, does the Minister recall that, when it comes to 300,000 houses, we have been there before with Ernie Marples in the early 1960s? In 1965, before the Conservative Government fell, they were planning to build more than 400,000 houses that year. If we could do it then, surely today, with modern fabrication methods, we could certainly do it now.

Nuclear Power Stations

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Howell of Guildford

Monday 24th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

I take issue with the noble Lord’s assertion that we do not take nuclear power seriously. We launched the nuclear sector deal in 2018—the fifth in a series of deals as part of the industrial strategy—and through this deal the sector has been committed to deliver a 30% reduction in the cost of new-build projects by 2030. The Government are committed to looking at alternative funding models that could improve value for money and reduce the capital cost of new nuclear projects. He is right that we have consulted on a regulated-asset base. The consultation closed on 14 October 2019 and we are currently considering responses to inform the best approach to the financing of future nuclear projects, which include the regulated-asset base and other models.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my registered interest and congratulate my noble friend on her new role. Does she agree that the aim of the present Government and their energy strategy is to move from 19% of electricity coming from nuclear power up to 30%? Does she also agree that the movement in that direction is extremely slow, with Wylfa suspended, Moorside cancelled, doubts about Sizewell C, the Chinese going ahead—we think—at Bradwell, and a question mark over Oldbury? The general level of progress looks thoroughly unsatisfactory. Can she ask her colleagues to ensure that a clear exposition of how this nuclear replacement fleet programme is going is presented to both Houses of Parliament very soon? From the outside, it does not look at all good.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

I acknowledge my noble friend’s concerns in this sector. The energy White Paper will still be published at the end of this quarter and will address some of those concerns. We have also been investing in new technologies for small and advanced modular reactors, which have significant potential to support a secure, affordable and decarbonised energy system. Although Horizon has suspended plans for Wylfa in Ynys Mon, the consent order is still live until the end of March and we are working hard to develop models that could work for Sizewell C and Bradwell, which would be a different form of reactor altogether.

High Speed 2 (Economic Affairs Committee Report)

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Howell of Guildford

Thursday 23rd January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

Noble Lords will have noticed that the clock is not working. I was keeping a record, and all noble Lords were going over the advisory speaking time of seven minutes. I urge noble Lords to keep their speeches as succinct as possible

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

Can the clock be switched off? It is extremely off-putting. The speech by the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, was quite excellent, but I felt all the time that it was being undermined by the blinking.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

We shall do our best, but we cannot do that from here. We are trying to sort it out.