Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of low carbon technology installations such as heat pumps that will be covered by the Home Upgrade Grant scheme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has allocated a total of £1.1 billion to the Home Upgrade Grant, with delivery taking place from early 2022 to March 2025. It will provide support to low-income families living off the gas grid to transition to low carbon heating, including heat pumps. The Home Upgrade Grant funds all energy efficiency and low-carbon heating measures that can be modelled by Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure (RdSAP).
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their proposed Boiler Upgrade System will be fully implemented by 1 April; what discussions they have had with the industry regarding the implementation of that scheme; and when they will publish full details on how the scheme will be implemented.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Earlier this month, we announced the launch dates for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. The scheme will open for installer account creation on 11 April, and voucher applications will open 23 May. All systems commissioned from 1 April will be entitled to support under the scheme. These dates were communicated directly to industry.
The Government has had, and continues to have, significant engagement with industry including manufacturers, installers, trade associations and industry standards bodies. Ofgem consulted at the end of last year to seek industry views on their administration of the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce in the UK measures equivalent to the proposal published by the European Commission on 23 February for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK already requires companies to undertake due diligence on sustainability matters under existing legislation on corporate transparency. UK listed companies are required to report on relevant environmental, social and governance aspects in their annual reports. Large businesses are also required to publish supply chain transparency statements on steps they have taken to ensure that no modern slavery or human trafficking is taking place in their business or through their supply chains. Both reporting requirements compel disclosure of a company’s due diligence arrangements where these are in place.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights Human Rights and Business 2017: Promoting responsibility and ensuring accountability (Session 2016–17, HL Paper 153), what steps they will take to introduce a mandatory human rights and due diligence law.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK has a strong record on human rights protection, much of which results from our framework of legislation. The UK already requires companies to undertake due diligence on sustainability matters under existing legislation on corporate transparency. UK listed companies are required to report on relevant environmental, social and governance aspects in their annual reports. Large businesses are also required to publish supply chain transparency statements on steps they have taken to ensure that no modern slavery or human trafficking is taking place in their business or through their supply chains. Both reporting requirements compel disclosure of a company’s due diligence arrangements where these are in place.
In certain circumstances, companies can already be held liable for breaches of duties of care to others where harm is suffered as a foreseeable consequence of the breach.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to mitigate against fuel poverty.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Sustainable Warmth strategy, published in February 2021, sets out government’s approach to tackling fuel poverty in England. It is accessible here.
Energy efficiency improvements remain the best way to tackle fuel poverty in the long term. Support for low income and vulnerable households is available through schemes such as the Local Authority Delivery Scheme and the Energy Company Obligation.
Financial support to help toward energy bills is available through the Warm Home Discount, Cold Weather Payment and Winter Fuel Payment.
In addition, a new package of support to help households with their energy bills was announced on the 3rd February which includes a £200 discount on household energy bills this Autumn for domestic electricity customers in Great Britain; a £150 non-repayable rebate on Council Tax bills for all households in Council Tax Bands A-D in England; and an additional £144 million of discretionary funding for Local Authorities to support households who are not eligible for the Council Tax rebate.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many annual extra heat pump installations the introduction of the Future Homes Standard from 2025 will incentivise.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government will be consulting on the exact technical specification of the Future Homes Standard in 2023. A robust estimate of the impact of the standard with regards heat pump installations will be possible once its technical specification is finalised.
We are clear however that when it is implemented in 2025, all new homes built to the Future Homes Standard will have low carbon heating, such as heat pumps. With that in mind, the Department’s impact assessment on our proposal to introduce a market-based mechanism for low carbon heat included an indicative estimate of up to around 200,000 heat pump installations per year from 2027, consistent with DLUHC estimates of around 250,000 annual net new-build completions from 2023 to 2029.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many annual extra heat pump installations the introduction of the interim uplift to building energy efficiency requirements from June 2022 will incentivise.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There will be several routes to compliance with the 2021 uplift, and it is therefore not possible to produce a robust estimate of the number of annual heat pump installations that will result. Modelling from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities produced as part of their impact assessment in the case of domestic properties specifically, estimates that around 10% of new homes built in 2022 could include an air source heat pump.