Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2022

Lord Best Excerpts

Monday 20th June 2022 Grand Committee

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I am delighted to follow the powerful commentary of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering. I declare my interest as president of the Sustainable Energy Association, and I take this opportunity to thank the Minister for a very engaging and encouraging speech at our annual reception last month.

While welcoming the new measures, I am asked to raise the position of the more than 500,000 private renters whose landlords manage their bills. When it comes to accessing the £150 the warm home discount affords, these 585,000 people may be barred from applying as they do not pay their energy supplier directly as the WHD stipulates. There is no legal requirement for landlords to pass on the energy grant to their tenants, and there seems to be a lack of guidance on how the process should be managed by landlords. By extension, this would be the case for the £400 energy grant which the Government will be offering this October. This can be a particular problem for those living in park homes, where the site owner pays for the energy supply and passes on costs to the residents. I believe Sir Peter Bottomley MP has been in touch with the Minister on this subject. Can the Minister share plans for ensuring that the warm home discount directly supports those who are in need of its help but who do not pay their suppliers directly? Will the Government be providing any guidance to enable fair management of the moneys by the landlords involved?

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow both the noble Baroness and the noble Lord, who asked excellent questions, particular the question about park homes. There are some 85,000 residents in park homes in this country, and they do not always have the sort of landlords we would like them to have. They are a big issue generally.

Although I welcome this secondary legislation in principle, it is worth noting that this is a reflection of a policy failure over decades, in that we have such a requirement to help people with energy bills because our housing stock is nowhere near the standard it should be. All this, including the £15 billion being spent by the Treasury on the cost of living, specifically around energy issues, is about standing still rather than investing in the future. I know the Minister will say that the Government are investing, but it is a trickle in comparison to what we need. Past Governments have been equally bad at resolving that. This is a symptom of a policy failure over decades in this country.

I shall ask a couple of technical questions on this and will then come on to one or two other things. The figure that rather shocked me—it may be because I misunderstand it—is in paragraph 7.2 on page 3 of the Explanatory Memorandum:

“The Impact Assessment models an improvement to the fuel poverty targeting rate of the scheme from 39% to 47%.”


Does that mean we have moved getting it wrong to 61% from to 53%? I would like to understand that. I remember going through these statutory instruments for Governments, and I understand the problem of trying to target these things correctly and that somehow the statistics or working with data from other departments does not work. But it is worth understanding whether that figure is what I understand it to be and how we improve that for the future because, my goodness, if that is it, we certainly need to improve it.

The next page refers to an algorithm that there were the largest concerns about. We all know the problem with algorithms. They can be great things but, as the Department for Education found out on A-level results, they can be disastrous. I am interested to understand what that issue was and whether it was resolved or was altered in the final prospectus.

Like the noble Lord, Lord Best, what I do not understand—the Minister will forgive me if I have missed it—is how private renters get their money back from prepaid meters. It seems straightforward when the core group are just paid the electricity on their bills. What happens in terms of prepayment meters?

I want to ask about one more thing before a more general point. This is for England and Wales; it talks about Scotland coming on later on but Northern Ireland is not mentioned. Northern Ireland has a much higher rate of fuel poverty than England and Wales—18% historically, though I am sure it will be a lot larger by the end of this year. We do not have a functioning Executive or Assembly in Belfast. Can the Minister say whether the Government will have to legislate directly regarding schemes over there or are schemes that have already been agreed carrying on? Clearly, fuel poverty is a big issue in Northern Ireland.

Lastly, I have a more general question for the Minister. We had an announcement today—it came through on the news—that, rightly, the Government wanted to protect the additional money paid by consumers to retail energy companies that tended to get washed out when they went bankrupt. The answer seemed to be—I know that news reporting is not necessarily accurate—to ensure that the balance sheets of these companies were better in order to solve it. If a company goes into administration, it goes into administration; the balance sheet is washed out automatically in that case. Why cannot we put that money into an escrow account or find some way in which that can be isolated from the company and remains the consumers’ money in trust? I do not understand why that is not a way forward. If the Minister could give me some clue on that, I would be very grateful.

Domestic Energy Efficiency: Retrofitting

Lord Best Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend’s reference to local authorities reminds me that the other part of the scheme, the local authority delivery scheme, is working extremely well. We are working closely with a number of local authorities. He is right that we need to invest more in training. We have awarded more than £7.5 million of funding to support the development of new and better retrofit technologies.

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, can the Minister confirm that Her Majesty’s Government agree with the Sustainable Energy Association—I declare an interest as its president—and the Committee on Climate Change, that a target for all domestic properties to reach energy performance certificate band C by 2035 is important and realistic as the halfway marker to achieving the Government’s net-zero goal by 2050?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We remain committed to getting as many homes as possible to EPC band C by 2035 where it is practical, effective and affordable.

Gas Boilers and Heaters: Replacement Programme

Lord Best Excerpts

Tuesday 12th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

They are one option. Air source heat pumps are another option and hydrogen a third. Domestic retrofit of community energy systems will also play a role. We will need to use a number of different technologies, but ground source heat pumps are certainly one possible technology.

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, it is clear that retrofitting all UK homes with low-carbon heating is a long way off. Very many households will depend on heating by electricity, which is at present much more expensive than its fossil fuel alternatives. Will the Minister confirm that the Treasury’s net zero review is looking at rebalancing the cost of electricity to make it more affordable, not least for those otherwise facing deep fuel poverty?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The Treasury’s net zero review, to which the noble Lord referred, is considering how the transition to net zero will be funded. Alongside this we are publishing a call for evidence by April to begin a strategic dialogue between government, consumers and industry on affordability and fairness. We have also expanded government support schemes, which I referred to earlier, to those on low incomes, who are likely to benefit from them or to be at risk of fuel poverty. We will respond to our consultation on fuel poverty in due course.

Green Homes Grant Scheme

Lord Best Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I understand the noble Lord’s point, but we specifically designed the local authority delivery element of the scheme to directly target owner-occupiers in private and social rented sectors but also to allow local authorities themselves to be responsible for the design of those schemes so that they more closely matched the requirements of their area. If we had a national instruction on how to do it, I think that would cause other problems. On balance, it is probably best to allow local authorities to decide how it works best in their areas.

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Sustainable Energy Association. Bearing in mind that there have been delays in issuing the vouchers for Green Homes Grant spending, which are leading to a likely underspend in this financial year, can the Minister confirm that the Government will carry over this phase 1 underspend beyond the end of March into phase 2 spending, so that valuable funding support is not lost?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We announced the extension of the scheme until March 2022, as I am sure the noble Lord is aware. In the 2020 spending review, the Chancellor allocated over £1 billion to make public sector buildings and homes greener, including £320 million for this scheme in 2021-22.

Carbon-neutral Homes

Lord Best Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I agree with the noble Lord that we need to invest further in training opportunities and upskilling. There are many jobs available in this sector and that is exactly what we are doing under the green home grant scheme. As well as grants to home- owners and the local authority delivery scheme, we are also investing in training places to bring those new jobs into fruition.

[Lord Best (CB) [V]]

My Lords, much of the problem of poor energy efficiency in homes is found in the private rented sector. Although the Government have launched their fund for the decarbonisation of social housing, what combination of sticks and carrots are they planning to deploy to secure decarbonisation and energy efficiency in the private rented sector?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes a very good point. Our stick is that we are consulting on raising the minimum energy efficiency standards of privately rented homes, and our carrot is that landlords can apply through the green homes grant scheme to get grant aid to help them.

Deregulation: Public Services and Health and Safety

Lord Best Excerpts

Thursday 13th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, for securing this debate and for her excellent opening speech. I would add that allowing us 11 minutes in which to speak does produce some superb speeches—I have already learned a great deal this morning. I know that the noble Baroness was deeply affected by the terrible tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire, as were so many of us. But she also encourages us today to broaden the debate on deregulation, and I want to look at this issue in the wider context of the UK’s housing scene.

I declare my interests as a vice-president of three bodies: the Local Government Association, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, and the Town and Country Planning Association. These three national bodies all represent organisations at the local level that are concerned with regulation, not least in the housing arena. All three stand up for higher standards and all know the effects of under-resourcing the people whom we expect to enforce regulations: building inspectors, environmental health officers, trading standards officers, and town and country planning officials. All these services have faced significant cutbacks in their budgets over recent years, seriously weakening the ability at a local level to enforce regulations that aim to ensure decent standards for the nation’s housing.

Other noble Lords have noted that deregulation has been the mantra for the past two decades. Certainly, unnecessary regulatory measures are costly and wasteful. However, the conclusion from recent events, in combination with a more general apprehension that the pendulum has swung too far in the removal of important regulations, surely means we are now ready for a less negative attitude to proper regulation and to pay for the people who ensure that regulations are adhered to.

The case I want to make today is that requirements for higher housing standards actually represent a cost-effective approach, quite apart from enhancing the health and safety of the occupiers. My contention is that cutting costs seldom pays in the medium to longer term, yet housebuilders and property developers are very likely to go for the short cut and the cheaper option, unless compelled by regulations to do otherwise.

Although it is excellent that the Government and opposition parties are all committed to increasing the quantity of homes built in the UK, quality—the subject of regulations—gets much less attention. In this country we rely very heavily on a small number of volume housebuilders to construct the bulk of our new homes. Governments have hoped that market forces will mean that all developers will achieve good design, high physical standards and a good deal for local communities in affordable housing provision with amenities like play areas and green space. But, sadly, once a developer has acquired a site, the element of competition is all about who can build most cheaply, who can most cleverly renegotiate the planning conditions, and whose marketing can secure the highest price for the lowest standards. Enhancements to the building regulations often meet with opposition from the building industry, but whenever an upgrade in the regulations is finally imposed universally across the industry, the complaints evaporate and the builders toe the line, knowing that there is a level playing field and all their competitors must do the same.

At the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the 1990s, we brought together a set of lifetime home standards for improved accessibility: removing the steps up to front doors which debar not only those in a wheelchair or using a Zimmer frame but parents with buggies; ensuring space inside for those with a mobility problem; and making adaptations to the property as easy as possible if they are needed in the future. We demonstrated how building all homes to lifetime homes standards would support anyone with a temporary or permanent disability and would mean significant savings to health and social care budgets, with fewer accidents in the home, possible earlier discharge from hospital, the postponement or prevention of the need for a move to residential care and more. Our efforts to amend the relevant part of the building regulations, Part M, were opposed by the housebuilding industry, but after these changes were accepted by government and incorporated into the building regulations—before deregulation became the order of the day—the housebuilders got on with it and learned swiftly how to produce more accessible homes with minimal fuss. Today, tens of thousands of families benefit from enhanced accessibility standards because of more exacting regulations. I should add that the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, championed these standards when she was a Housing Minister in your Lordships’ House, producing the excellent 2008 report, Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods.

Noble Lords have only to visit good-quality housing built 100 years ago like Joseph Rowntree’s garden village of New Earswick, Cadbury’s Bournville or the beautiful Whiteley Village for older people, where I was last week, to see how the economics works out. The 100 year-old homes in these places remain highly sought-after and the initial investment has been repaid many times over: quality pays. We have to ensure that the 1.5 million homes to be built before 2022, including I hope many new garden villages with proper master planning, achieve really decent standards not just for fire and safety but for health and well-being. The international architect Sir Terry Farrell’s 2014 report brought together all the necessary components for excellent urban design, but it never gained traction. Perhaps the next president of the RIBA—I declare an interest as an honorary fellow—might take up this cause and make things happen rather than piously hoping that guidance will do the trick. The Government need to set out clear, tough building regulations and ensure that they be fully enforced. This is certainly the time for a wholesale review of the current building regulations.

As a concluding point, perhaps I may mention a recent regulatory enforcement success story. We all know that some private sector landlords—a minority—exploit their tenants and fail to observe health and safety regulations. To enforce the current requirements on landlords, the London Borough of Newham under the leadership of the mayor, Sir Robin Wales, has established a comprehensive licensing scheme. This has led to 1,100 criminal landlords being prosecuted, £2.6 million in unpaid council tax being recovered and substantial tax bills being issued by HMRC. I joined one of Newham’s dawn raids to witness the work of this borough in uncovering the alarming abuses in its private rented-sector stock and driving out bad practice. This is just the kind of enforcement of standards that needs to be replicated and extended elsewhere.

One genuinely positive outcome from the dreadful Grenfell Tower tragedy would be a recognition that raising and enforcing standards need not be a negative matter of adding bureaucracy, let alone costs, but instead can be a truly positive means of securing long-term value and enhancing quality of life and happiness for hundreds of thousands of us over the years to come.