Great British Energy Bill

Lord Whitty Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 11th February 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Whitty]

9: After “communities” insert “and projects providing for workforce planning and training to ensure adequate jobs and skills in a fair transition to cleaner energy”

[Lord Whitty (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness on the Woolsack for that clarification.

I applaud completely Amendment 8, and am glad that the Government have moved this amendment which reflects the discussion in Committee. However, I am deeply disappointed that they failed to reflect an amendment that I tabled in Committee and had hoped that Ministers would accept. I find it quite extraordinary that, in a Labour Government’s proposition on the transformation of the energy sector, there is no clear reference to the workforce, workforce planning or raising skills.

We are, in effect, transforming over time a workforce whose most skilled and probably best paid employees work on oil wells to then operate in the wind sector, other renewable energy sectors and the nuclear sector. We wish to transform the generation end, but it affects the distribution and transmission end as well, where the whole system has to be changed and made more connected. The development of storage and new skills will be required, right through to the retail end where today’s jobbing electricians, gas fitters and plumbers will have to change their skills to fit in with the new energy form. But the Bill does not mention it.

I criticised the Conservative Government, who had much longer Bills where the words “skills” and “workforce” did not appear, but this Bill, on the strategic requirement for Great British Energy, which will be a major mover in this area, does not really mention skills. I hope, therefore, that the Minister will accept that there is a requirement and bring forward an amendment at Third Reading which reflects that.

I gently say to the Ministers on the Front Bench that, unless we reflect on that, we are going to lose some support among the existing workforce and those who might be thinking of training to enter the workforce. This applies to other Bills as well; if I were capable of being in two places at the same time, I would be making the same point on the buses Bill, where a relatively elderly workforce is going to be faced with a transformation in technology and regulation. I might also have made the same point on the railways Bill.

I gently say to my colleagues on the Front Bench that these are quite heavily unionised industries that they are proposing to transform. It would be good to have the representatives of the existing workforce, and, potentially, the future workforce, on-side in the job of Great British Energy and the Government. I declare an interest as a member of the GMB and the former general secretary of Unite and UNISON. We are at an early stage, and the Government need to recognise that representation will be important during this transformation of a very important sector. I hope they will recognise that and commit to putting something in the Bill for Third Reading.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I have already spoken to my Amendment 8 and I now turn to Amendment 9 from my noble friend Lord Whitty, which is an amendment to my amendment. I had an opportunity for a very useful discussion with him after Committee. On jobs—the skilled people in the industry—I make it clear to the House that in Great British Energy’s policy priorities its mission is to drive clean energy deployment, boost energy independence and create jobs, alongside the other important aims. The GBE founding statement is explicit that GBE will boost the number of skilled jobs in this essential industry.

The statement of strategic priorities will reiterate these points and provide some more detail, and I am confident that GBE will take strongly on board the point that my noble friend has raised. We have already said that we expect trade unions to have a role in GBE, and I think the appointment as a non-executive director of my noble friend Lady O’Grady, the former general secretary of the TUC, supports this. I would also very much like to arrange a meeting between my noble friends to discuss this further.

On Amendment 22, we expect the statement of strategic priorities to outline any areas or programmes of activity that the Government would like GBE to prioritise in pursuit of its objectives. The problem with the wording of this amendment is that it would distort the work of GBE by placing community energy above and beyond the company’s other strategic priorities.

On Amendment 25, to support community energy groups to access funding and establish themselves in all areas of the UK—a point I made earlier—GBE will provide commercial, technical and project planning assistance, increasing the capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in local areas. Our local power plan will ensure coherence with other public sector advisory functions, and funding and finance organisations operating in the local energy space.

On community funds, of course we recognise the important role that community groups play in our efforts to tackle climate change and the sector asks around future funding. Great British Energy will build on the community energy fund by partnering with and providing funding and support to community energy groups to roll out renewable energy projects and develop, as noble Lords have said, up to 8 gigawatts of power. Further details will be set out shortly, but that is as far as I can go tonight.

As far as Amendment 14 is concerned, I make it clear to the noble Earl, Lord Russell, that there is no question about the importance of what he said about the challenge we face in relation to our building stock. That is therefore the challenge of our warm homes plan. We do not agree with the amendment because we do not think it should be the role of GBE to roll out the warm homes plan. I think he was talking about a wider principle than specifically the Bill and the role of GBE.

The warm homes plan has to be seen as a vital component of our ambition to become a clean energy superstar. As a first step we have committed an initial £3.4 billion in the next three years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, and £1 billion of that has been allocated in the 2025-26 financial year. The intention is to upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country over this Parliament by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies such as heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation and to work and partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll this out. I accept that this is essentially a first step. It is a really challenging area, alongside our industrial processes. We will set out further details on the warm homes plan in due course, and we think that is the best way to proceed.

Finally, there are two responses to Amendment 53 tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, with whom I had the opportunity of a very useful discussion. I do not think it necessary to constrain GBE. Any development in which it is involved and provides finance will be subject to the existing stringent planning regulations, although we hope to see reform of our planning system, and the environmental impact assessments in environmental legislation that is brought to bear when considering these applications. The noble Lord’s argument should be with the planning system and environmental protections. The noble Lord, Lord Teverson, is right—we do not think that this Bill is the appropriate place for these proposals.

[Lord Whitty (Lab)]

My Lords, I will withdraw this amendment to an amendment. I tabled it because Clause 3(2) restricts the objects without mentioning the workforce. If my noble friend has other ways of dealing with this, that is fine.

Amendment 9 (to Amendment 8) withdrawn.