Oral Answers to Questions
Martin McCluskey Excerpts(1 week, 1 day ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
Ensuring that everyone has access to a safe and warm home is our priority. From this winter, we estimate that an extra 280,000 families in the north-west will receive £150 off their energy bills, thanks to decisions taken by this Government. Through our warm homes plan, we will bring down bills for families right across the country.
Mr Morrison
According to National Energy Action, adults in the north are more likely to ration their energy this winter, and in my constituency almost 8,000 people are in fuel poverty and at risk of poor living conditions, illness and suffering. A balance must be struck to deliver both clean heating and a people-first approach. After serious delay, will the Minister finally bring forward a warm homes plan, and explain how it will achieve that balance and ensure that low-income households in Cheadle are guaranteed clean, affordable heating for the winters to come?
Martin McCluskey
We will bring forward the warm homes plan this year. In March, we allocated around £1.8 billion to local authorities and social housing providers through the warm homes local grant. The hon. Member may want to direct his constituents to the Greater Manchester combined authority, which received a settlement of £134.9 million of devolved capital funding for buildings retrofit. They can access that through the retrofit portal, which has an eligibility checker, so that households can check whether they qualify for free or discounted home upgrades.
Paul Waugh (Rochdale) (Lab/Co-op)
Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
From this winter, an additional 2.7 million households across the UK will receive £150 off their energy bills, which makes a total of nearly 6 million low-income households receiving this vital support. That is the difference that this Government are making to our communities.
Paul Waugh
I am delighted that thanks to this Government and the warm home discount eligibility extension, thousands more Rochdale families will be eligible for £150 off their bills this winter. It will ensure that young and old alike get more help with their bills this winter. I would like to raise the case of my constituent Keith Gumbridge, who had his cavity wall insulation botched under the previous Government, and who was left with huge legal bills after so-called “no win, no fee” law firm Pure Legal went bust. Mr Gumbridge’s case has been with the Legal Ombudsman for nearly three years; does the Minister agree that that is far too long to wait for justice?
Martin McCluskey
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for all his work championing causes for his constituents. He will know that an extra 280,000 households in the north-west will be eligible for the warm home discount, and that 2.7 million households across the country will be helped this year. I would be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the case of Mr Gumbridge. Ensuring confidence in the insulation system will be crucial to rolling out the warm homes plan.
Adam Jogee
I congratulate the Minister on being freed from the Government Whips Office and welcome him to his position on the Front Bench. I commend the Government on extending the warm home discount to a further 2.7 million low-income households, but there is much more to do. With that in mind, will the Minister find time to meet me, so that we can discuss how we can keep people in Newcastle-under-Lyme alive, safe and warm in the colder months ahead?
Martin McCluskey
I thank my hon. Friend for his comments on my liberation from the Government Whips Office. I know that he is a champion for his constituents in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and I am always happy to meet to discuss these important issues. He will know, as I do, that with wholesale gas costs 77% higher than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we must get people off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices and on to clean home-grown power.
Dr Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
Nearly 3 million households in the UK live in fuel poverty. At the same time, a recent report from the Common Wealth think-tank told us that energy company profits average about a quarter of everybody’s bills. In the last few years, £70 billion has been paid to shareholders, instead of being reinvested or used to help tackle fuel poverty. Will the Minister commit to tackling those energy company profits by taxing them fairly and reinvesting the money in the urgent work that is needed—for example, through the warm homes plan—to tackle the scourge of fuel poverty in our country?
Martin McCluskey
The cost of energy has to come down, and one of my jobs as Minister for energy consumers is driving down the cost of bills, but we must also remember that the Government introduced a windfall tax on the oil and gas companies, and we have the price cap on energy, which caps the profits of energy companies. We will continue to take that action.
Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)
Despite the oil price being at a six-month low this week, energy prices remain stubbornly high. Given the onset of winter, what further steps will the Minister and his Department take by way of a warm home scheme?
Martin McCluskey
We are taking action through the warm home discount, which is being provided to an extra 2.7 million households across the country, and the warm homes plan, which we will roll out before the end of the year.
Stephen Gethins (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry) (SNP)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
High and volatile energy prices are bad for growth, take money out of consumers’ pockets and make our businesses less competitive. Through our mission to achieve clean power by 2030, we are taking the country off the rollercoaster of global fossil fuel prices and have set a route to home-grown cheap and greener energy.
Stephen Gethins
The Minister and I come from one of the most energy-rich parts of Europe, yet its consumers have among the highest energy bills in Europe. That drives up fuel poverty and hits the cost of living crisis. He will be aware of that. Labour promised to bring down bills by £300; they will have gone up by about the same amount. Does the Minister understand why people are so frustrated with the Government?
Martin McCluskey
Like the hon. Member, I understand people’s frustration when they look at their energy bills each month. [Interruption.] That promise stands. That is why we are taking concerted action through the warm home discount, which is providing 2.7 million households with support this winter, and the warm homes plan, which we will roll out this year.
Catherine West (Hornsey and Friern Barnet) (Lab)
Economic growth is a key driver for all our constituents. What is the Government’s estimate of the number of jobs that will be created in the UK by 2030? Is it true to say that it will be triple the number in the old economy?
Martin McCluskey
Hundreds of thousands of jobs will come from the clean power revolution. That is why it is so important that we push ahead with it and do not adopt the tactics of the Conservative party, or their friends on the Back Benches. We need to push ahead with clean power in order to unlock those hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.
Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con)
I welcome the new Ministers to the Front Bench. On the first day of recess, away from scrutiny, the Labour party published the prices for its allocation round 7 of the renewables auction. Labour used to say that renewables were nine times cheaper, but the prices that the Secretary of State has said he is willing to pay are 40% higher than the current cost of electricity—they are the highest prices in a decade—and he has extended the contract length to 20 years. Those are not just the prices that we will be paying; they are the prices that our children will be paying. Will the Minister explain how locking us into higher prices for longer will cut bills by £300?
Martin McCluskey
The right hon. Lady’s comparison is absolute nonsense, and she knows it. She compares the cost of building and operating new renewables, which is what the contract for difference relates to, with the cost of operating—not building—gas plants. Once we make a fair comparison, the truth is that renewables are cheaper to build. We will take no lessons on energy policy from the Conservative party, which abandoned its commitment to clean energy at its party conference.
Anna Sabine (Frome and East Somerset) (LD)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
The Government believe that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect bill payers permanently. We recognise that we need to support households struggling with bills while we transition to clean power. That is why we are expanding the warm home discount to around an additional 2.7 million households.
Dr Chambers
I recently visited St Bartholomew’s church in Hyde, which has served the residents of Winchester for over 915 years, as part of its Give to Go Green day, which raised £2,400 to support its efforts to decarbonise the church and reduce energy bills. Will the Minister join me in congratulating the congregation and the community volunteers for the leadership they are showing in this area, and will he outline what steps the Government are taking to support faith and community groups in decarbonising historic buildings while preserving their heritage?
Martin McCluskey
I join the hon. Gentleman in praising the whole congregation and community at St Bartholomew’s in Winchester for supporting those efforts. Such efforts by community and faith groups across the country show the support that exists for taking the right action, not just on clean power but on insulation. The warm homes plan and other plans that the Department will publish before the end of the year will address some of the issues he talks about in respect of historic buildings.
Victoria Collins
Carol from Harpenden is one of many constituents who are worried about energy costs. At 70, she stressed that she never imagined that she would have to scrimp and save in the way that she does just to get by. The warm home discount is a temporary lifeline, so will the Government commit to long-lasting solutions to end fuel poverty, including an emergency home upgrade programme that will include incentives to install heat pumps that cover real costs?
Martin McCluskey
We are currently consulting on extending the warm home discount beyond 2026. I would encourage the hon. Lady to look at that consultation and feed back her views. The warm homes plan is the route to some of the actions that she has outlined and we will be publishing it before the end of the year.
Anna Sabine
In my constituency of Frome and East Somerset, approximately 10% of households use oil central heating, compared with 5% nationally. Given the high volatility of oil prices, that places my constituents in a particularly difficult position as we approach the winter months. Will the Minister confirm what measures will be taken to ensure that homes that are reliant on oil heating can be heated more affordably, so that my constituents do not have to suffer unnecessarily?
Martin McCluskey
Since I became a Minister four weeks ago, I have received a lot of correspondence on this issue and I am looking at it closely. We have consulted on the issue and, hopefully, we will be publishing the results of that consultation before the end of the month.
Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)
Half the battle to reach net zero is using less energy, which is why work to insulate homes is so important. Calder Valley is famous for “Happy Valley” and now “Riot Women”, and has occasionally been called wet and windy. With 75,000 of our homes falling below energy performance certificate band C, that means many families live in homes that leak heat. Today’s National Audit Office report found that in 98% of homes that had insulation installed under the last Government, the work was faulty, risking damp and mould. What action will this Government take to ensure that future insulation efforts help families, rather than hinder them?
Martin McCluskey
I share my hon. Friend’s concern about the findings in today’s National Audit Office report. Obviously, we inherited this situation from the previous Government and we are cleaning up their mess. It is important that we have robust protections in place for consumers so that they have confidence when installing these measures. The warm homes plan will address that, including through the consumer protections that we will outline as part of it.
Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)
The CBI says that one of the best routes to bringing down bills and delivering growth is investing in clean power jobs, including the 8,800 such jobs that we currently have in Tees Valley—a number that is scaling up every year. Does the Secretary of State agree that investing in these industries is one of the best ways to redevelop our region and to deliver jobs and growth years into the future?
Martin McCluskey
I agree with my hon. Friend. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will come as a result of our sprint to clean power by 2030, not just in his constituency but across the entire country. What will not take us to those hundreds of thousands of jobs is the Conservative party abandoning its commitment to the Climate Change Act 2008. From hug a husky to burning the Climate Change Act—that is not the transition that we expected.
Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
I welcome the new Ministers to their place—I look forward to working with them—and I congratulate the Secretary of State and the Minister for Energy on holding on to their posts, which we are glad to see.
One of the best ways to bring down household bills is to help homeowners and small businesses make their properties cheaper to warm and to power. The Liberal Democrats have put forward a plan to do that by introducing a windfall tax on the big banks, which have seen billions of pounds in unexpected profits as a result of the quantitative easing programme by the Bank of England more than a decade ago. Does the Secretary of State agree with the Liberal Democrats that we should instead use those excess profits to fund green affordable loans of up to £20,000 for households and up to £50,000 for businesses and community groups, and cut people’s power bills for good?
Martin McCluskey
Having been in this job for only four and half weeks, I am always in the market for good ideas, whichever part of the House they come from. The £13.2 billion warm homes plan will do exactly what the hon. Lady wants us to do—safely insulating homes and getting people to take the action we need them to take to achieve clean power 2030. Importantly, the plan will create homes, businesses and properties that are warm and affordable, powered by sustainable clean energy.
Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
Let me be absolutely clear: no family should ever have had to go through this. It happened because of the systematic failings of the system put in place by the previous Government, and we are cleaning up their mess. We will do that at no cost to consumers, and I am happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss any cases that he might have in his constituency.
Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)
Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)
Martin McCluskey
As the Minister for Energy Consumers, I am totally focused on how we bring bills down. Ofgem has already released information about how it will be providing a low standing charge tariff from January. We will also publish the warm homes plan before the end of the year. The warm home discount, which I encourage my hon. Friend to encourage her constituents to apply for, is providing additional support to 2.7 million households.
David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) (Con)
Will the Minister confirm that there is now a timetable to ensure that everyone who has a radio teleswitch meter will have it replaced without losing their electricity, heating or hot water?
Martin McCluskey
Since taking up my post four weeks ago, I have been dealing with the issue of radio teleswitch. I am more than happy to meet the right hon. Member to discuss the plans, and will soon be organising a roundtable with Members on both sides of the House to discuss them further.
Energy Infrastructure Planning Projects
Martin McCluskey Excerpts(1 week, 2 days ago)
Written StatementsRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
This statement concerns two applications for development consent made under the Planning Act 2008: one by GT R4 Limited, trading as Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind for the construction and operation of an offshore generating station comprised of up to 100 wind turbine generators, with a capacity of up to 1.5 GW, off the Lincolnshire coast in the southern North Sea; and the other by Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm Limited for the construction and operation of an offshore generating station comprising up to 35 wind turbine generators, located in the eastern Irish Sea.
Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State (Ed Miliband) must make a decision on an application within three months of the receipt of the examining authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) of the Act to set a new deadline. Where a new deadline is set, the Secretary of State must make a statement to Parliament to announce it.
The statutory deadline for the decision on the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Farm Project was 10 October 2025. I have decided to allow an extension and to set a new deadline of 10 February 2026. This is to allow time to request further information that was not provided for consideration during the examination period and to give all interested parties the opportunity to review and comment on such information.
The statutory deadline for the decision on the Morecambe Offshore Wind Farm Generation Assets proposed development is 23 October 2025. I have decided to set a new statutory deadline of 18 December 2025. This is to allow time to request further information that was not available for consideration during the examination period and to give all interested parties the opportunity to review and comment on such information.
While it is not my preference to extend, I am clear that applications for consent for energy projects submitted under the Planning Act 2008 must meet the necessary standards.
The decision to set the new deadline for these applications is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.
[HCWS942]
Retrofit Measures: ECO4 and GBIS
Martin McCluskey Excerpts(1 week, 2 days ago)
Written StatementsRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)
On 17 July the Government updated the House on widespread, systemic issues in the delivery of solid wall insulation under the energy company obligation 4 scheme and the Great British insulation scheme. These schemes place obligations on large and medium-sized energy suppliers to install energy efficiency and other improvements to homes, typically delivered through contractors. ECO4 commenced in 2022, and GBIS in 2023. Around 65,000 households have received solid wall insulation installed under those schemes.
The issues identified were the result of unacceptably poor standards of work from a number of contractors, enabled by a flawed oversight and protection system established by the previous Government. In the most severe cases, this has led to damage to homes, including serious problems with mould and damp. People placed their trust in the system to deliver safe, long-lasting home upgrades that would reduce their energy bills, but they have been severely let down.
This statement presents the results of our independent audit programme, published on gov.uk, and outlines the comprehensive actions that this Government are taking to help those people whose homes are affected and to ensure that this never happens again.
In October 2024, routine audits conducted by TrustMark—the independent body that oversees the quality of retrofit work done by tradespeople working in homes–identified significant levels of poor-quality solid wall insulation that had been installed under ECO4 and GBIS. TrustMark began to suspend installers, and the Department commissioned a much fuller audit.
In November, the Department asked Ofgem to oversee an expanded programme of checks, working with TrustMark, certification bodies and others to understand the scale of the issues. When it became clear that this was likely to be a widespread problem, the Department informed the House of its initial findings and committed to publishing the results in the autumn of an independent audit of the installation of solid wall insulation.
The statistically representative audit programme, launched in the spring, has now completed and I have now published the results on gov.uk. Results show that 92% of external wall insulation installations and 27% of internal wall insulation installations of those audited under these schemes were found to have at least one major technical non-compliance. A major non-compliance indicates an issue that will compromise the effectiveness of the insulation rather than pose a direct risk to safety.
Additionally, a small percentage of installations audited—6% of EWI and 3% of IWI—were categorised as posing potential risks to health or safety. Wherever these kinds of risks are identified, installers are required to make them safe within 24 hours.
Installers are responsible for putting right any issues found with their work; we have been clear that no household should be asked to pay any money to put things right. This is an unacceptable level of non-compliance that points to serious failings in oversight of these schemes, set up under the previous Government.
The Department also commissioned audits of our Government-funded schemes supporting energy efficiency: the social housing decarbonisation fund, the home upgrade grant and the local authority delivery schemes. Fortunately, these show that there is no widespread problem with those schemes, in part as they are subject to more oversight and scrutiny. We will take the lessons from those programmes into any future work carried out on behalf of energy suppliers.
Over the last several months it has become clear that this Government inherited a system that was not fit for purpose and that had multiple points of failure. These included: a system of oversight that had too many gaps, and which allowed issues to go unidentified for far too long; a lack of safeguards and incentives for installers and the certification bodies to carry out and ensure high-quality work; and a failure of the previous Government to grip properly the confusing and fragmented oversight system that it had allowed to develop.
All these failures must be addressed, so that the scale and nature of these problems can never be repeated. We are taking action. First, we have taken immediate steps to strengthen the safeguards in the system and ensure accountability. This includes:
Suspension of 38 installers and a rigorous process for reinstatement following remediation of all issues in identified properties;
Energy suppliers carrying out enhanced checks and increased oversight of their contractors;
Greater oversight by my Department of TrustMark’s operations;
New restrictions preventing installers from evading accountability by operating through multiple certification bodies;
Updated standards to require site visits from retrofit co-ordinators, giving an additional layer of on-site assurance, and requiring higher standards of qualification for retrofit designers.
Secondly, we want to go further. The Government are offering comprehensive on-site audits to every household with external wall insulation installed under the two schemes, at no cost to the consumer. We are committed to helping households, who through no fault of their own have not received the standard of service they deserve. Every affected household will be initially contacted by Ofgem, which is supporting the Government response, and Ofgem’s contact centre is available for any household with concerns. Details for this are: ECOhelD@ofgem.gov.uk, a webform on our gov.uk pages, and freephone number 0808 169 4447, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays, from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm.
We strongly urge all individuals who are contacted for an audit to take up the offer, even if they have no current concerns with their external wall insulation. I am aware of examples of households who have refused access to installers seeking to fix issues found. I encourage anyone who has had an audit carried out to allow access to the qualified professionals to put the work right. Even where the original installer is no longer trading, all works carried out under ECO4 and GBIS must be covered by guarantees, and householders can contact their guarantee provider for assistance.
These are important short-term improvements, but we are clear that we must now go much further. This episode reveals systemic failures with ECO4 and GBIS that were set up under the previous Government, which is why we are conducting a sweeping overhaul of consumer protection for retrofit measures. High-quality and safe installations with strong consumer protections are essential to building trust in the retrofit market.
The system we inherited was fragmented, privatised, and has weak oversight—leading to unacceptably poor outcomes for consumers. Too many organisations, often with overlapping roles and responsibilities, make it more difficult for consumers to obtain redress when work is defective. Compounding this, the lack of a clear line of accountability to a strong oversight body has allowed poorly performing installers to carry out substandard work without proper accountability. This is unacceptable and does not give the consumers the outcomes they deserve.
We will change all of this: Instead of a multitude of organisations with overlapping responsibilities, we will have clear centralised oversight. Rather than private companies in the driving seat, the Government will be at the fore, instituting tight controls and tough sanctions. We will do this by bringing in a single system of oversight for retrofit work with consistent standards and processes for installers, delivering stronger, formal Government assurance and driving up quality.
Further detail will be provided in the warm homes plan, with reforms to deliver on three key objectives:
Work should be right first time: despite the unacceptable failures uncovered in ECO4 and GBIS, in most cases work on Government schemes is safe and carried out to a high standard. Consumers must be able to trust that work will be done right the first time in all but the rarest circumstances.
Simplicity: people should not be expected to navigate a variety of organisations when they want to make changes to improve their homes. The installation process for low carbon heating and energy efficient home upgrades will be clear and straightforward.
Swift remediation and a straightforward process for redress: in those rare cases where things do go wrong, there must be clear lines of accountability, so that consumers are guaranteed to get any problems fixed quickly.
The Government retrofit system reform advisory panel will continue to support us to develop these proposals, and we are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the building safety regulator and others. The Department will consult on proposals early next year.
Home upgrades are one of the best ways to get bills down for families, to cut bills and to deliver warmer homes, so it is vital that we address these issues in a way that ensures we retain public confidence in home upgrades.
This Government are acting—prioritising help for those households who might be affected while ensuring that we learn the lessons from these failures, and that as we drive for reform, we take the opportunity to make lasting change. That is why we are bringing forward comprehensive reforms to the retrofit consumer protection system—to make it stronger, more transparent, and more accountable, so that this cannot happen again.
[HCWS953]
Clean Energy Superpower Mission
Martin McCluskey Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Edward Miliband
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. As with any planning decisions, there are clear parameters in the legislation on the consultation that needs to take place with local communities. I gently point out to her that, nine years ago, the last Government banned onshore wind in England for some of the reasons that she set out. I thought that was a mistake at the time, and it turned out to be even more of a mistake than I thought, because it exposed us to energy insecurity. We have to make judgments as Members of this House. Given the scale of the climate crisis, the energy insecurity and the energy security threat that we face, do we believe that we need to build infrastructure? I happen to believe that we do—yes, with community consent; yes, with community benefit; and yes, with the planning rules that I have set out.
Martin McCluskey (Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West) (Lab)
I congratulate the Secretary of State on his new position. He was lucky enough to visit my constituency during the election campaign and to visit the port of Greenock, where he saw the great potential that exists for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West to contribute to the Government’s clean energy mission. What plans does he have to ensure that every part of the country, including in Scotland, can make a contribution? What message does he have for my constituents who are looking to the Government to make an investment in our ports and our marine assets?
Edward Miliband
My hon. Friend is an incredibly eloquent advocate for his port, which I was delighted to visit during the election campaign. He makes such an important point: for an island nation looking to take advantage—in terms of jobs as well as generation—of the opportunities of offshore wind, including floating offshore wind, our ports are a massively undervalued and under-invested asset. That is why in our manifesto we set out the largest public investment in ports since privatisation. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that it must involve the whole of our United Kingdom. Scotland has a special place in that, as it will become the new headquarters of GB Energy.