Future Homes Standard

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I just want to say that we do understand the effectiveness of solar panels in providing a direct and sustainable way to harness renewable energy and to allow homes to generate their own electricity, as well as offering the significant savings that will help with fuel bills. It is my absolute intention that the new building regulation standards that will be introduced this year will encourage the use of rooftop solar panels. I am working very fast with my honourable friend Minister Fahnbulleh to drive this forward as quickly as possible. We need to confirm the technical detail of the standards and we will share more details of them as soon as we are able.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that, by being ambitious here, we have the opportunity to drive growth in renewable sectors such as the heat pump sector while also delivering homes that will be fit for the future, both for the cold that we expect and the excessively warmer temperatures that are now becoming more normal?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is quite right that, as we set out in our Plan for Change, our growth agenda and our drive towards net zero are not exclusive: there is no conflict between them. I see three major opportunities for us here: great jobs, training, skills and apprenticeships for our young people, both in construction and in retrofitting; manufacturing capability for technology such as heat pumps, solar and maybe many new aspects of that; and building on our country’s fantastic reputation for innovation as we develop the green technologies of the future. These things are totally compatible with our growth agenda.