Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what plans his Department has to work with housing associations and industry to scale up affordable and tenant-friendly retrofitting models to help meet the Government’s 2030 EPC target for social homes.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is currently consulting on introducing minimum energy efficiency standards for the social rented sector. We will be engaging closely with the sector throughout the consultation process.
The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund provides grant funding for social housing landlords to improve the energy performance of their properties through installing energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies. Wave 3 of the fund, for which allocations were announced in March 2025, will deliver up to £1.29 billion of funding.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of modern, low-disruption retrofit techniques on the rate of decarbonisation of the UK’s social housing stock.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department places significant importance on the tenants needs, and complying with consumer protection standards when completing retrofit works.
The Department takes an iterative approach to schemes - such as increasing the provision of modern low carbon heating technologies under the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 – and conducts robust evaluation of delivery. These findings, such as in the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 Process Evaluation report (available here), highlight delivery successes and challenges, and enable the adoption of new techniques.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to increase the deployment of low-carbon heating technologies in the social housing sector; and if he will review and respond to the findings of Mitsubishi Electric’s recent report on delivering net zero in social housing.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has committed £13.2 billion over the Spending Review period for the Warm Homes Plan, which will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating to homes across England. Within Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, which launched earlier this year, there is a new optional low carbon heating incentive for homes on the gas grid. Up to 10% of homes in an application can access a £20,000 grant per home to install low carbon heating measures. I appreciate Mitsubishi Electric’s recent report, and my officials are engaging with Mitsubishi regarding these findings.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Association for Decentralised Energy entitled Consumer-Led Clean Power: How to Unlock Consumer-Led Flexibility for Clean Power 2030, published on 17 June 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government supports significant growth in consumer-led flexibility, as set out in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. We are grateful to the Association for Decentralised Energy for its work in this area. In our Action Plan, Government committed to publishing a Flexibility Roadmap in 2025. The Roadmap will set out further detail on how the benefits of clean flexibility will be unlocked for the consumer, following the assessment of relevant evidence.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of consumer flexibility on reducing energy costs; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that clean energy produced in Scotland directly impacts households in Scotland.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Consumer led flexibility reduces electricity system costs for all by minimising the amount of peaking generation and associated network infrastructure that needs to be built in the long term. Modelling shows that deploying short duration flexibility such as consumer led flexibility, battery storage and interconnectors, could reduce electricity system costs by up to £70bn by 2050.
Our reforms through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements to the current national pricing model deliver better incentives for industrial investment in Scotland in the coming years by encouraging market stability and investment. This will support the timely delivery of new generation in the right places – which is designed to lower consumer bills in GB, including Scotland.
Scotland is at the forefront of the drive towards clean energy, with Great British Energy headquartered in Aberdeen and Cromarty Firth recently being awarded £56 million to become the UK’s first floating offshore wind port capable of making turbines at scale.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to accelerate grid connection times for small and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturers participating in grid-balancing schemes.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is implementing fundamental reforms to the connections process that will free up capacity and accelerate connections, including for small and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturers. But we recognise that further action is needed and that is why we announced plans in the Industrial Strategy to launch a Connections Accelerator Service and use new legal powers to accelerate grid connection timelines for demand projects.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the cost of electricity.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently.
The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy with less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past.
We recognise that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we are delivering the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households this winter. On 25 February, we published a consultation on the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, giving more eligible households £150 off their energy bills. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million.
The Government is also continuing to work with Ofgem and energy suppliers to ensure energy bills remain fair and affordable while we transition to clean power by 2030.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating a national energy advice service for businesses and homeowners.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises that access to trusted and impartial energy efficiency and clean heat advice is crucial. The Government runs several digital services on GOV.UK, supported by a national phoneline, aimed at households. We are now streamlining these services into a single user journey to make it even easier for households to access information, including funding options and trusted installers.
We encourage SMEs to visit the UK Business Climate Hub, which provides information and advice to SMEs on how to reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure a widespread adoption of minimum energy efficiency standards.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is consulting on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector, including proposals for rented homes to achieve EPC C or equivalent by 2030. We will consult shortly on introducing minimum energy efficiency standards in the social rented sector which would form part of the Decent Homes Standard.
We have also reviewed the responses to our 2019 and 2021 consultations on an EPC B trajectory for minimum energy efficiency standards in the non-domestic private rented sector and plan to publish a response in the early part of 2025.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of taking steps to use the energy efficiency SME supply chain to deliver the Warm Homes Plan.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government’s ambitious Warm Homes Plan will upgrade millions of homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing insulation to rolling out solar and heat pumps. The Plan will set out proposals to facilitate growth of a robust and competent supply chain to support home upgrades, including investing in training and skills and supporting SMEs to work in the sector.