Planning: Energy Efficiency and Fire Safety

Baroness Pinnock Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is quite right. We will bring forward the future homes standard in the autumn—we are consulting on it at the moment—which will ensure that new homes are net-zero ready and that householders benefit from lower energy bills, with high levels of energy efficiency and solar PV. We made an announcement last week that the standard will include solar panels, which we expect to be installed on the majority of new homes. I have spoken to my noble friend on her point about disabled facilities, and we understand the frustrations of, for example, those applying for disabled facilities grants. The more we can make sure that homes are fit for everybody in our community, the better it will be. We are considering this further as we develop our housing strategy, which is due to be published later this year.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, the cost of cladding remediation is up to £40,000 per flat. Can the Minister tell the House how leaseholders, who are not eligible for grant funding from the Government and contractors, will be able to afford the remediation of homes which insurance companies believe are not safe to live in?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We are working very closely with leaseholder bodies to understand their issues. I understand the difficulties, and we are making sure that those responsible for the buildings are held to account and that they support leaseholders to get the work done. I am still talking to leaseholders, and we will bring forward more action on their general conditions in the leasehold Bill later this year. I know that this is a very difficult issue for them, and we continue to work with them on it.