Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his proposed timeline is for implementing community energy generation and storage across the UK.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government is hugely ambitious about the role that local and community energy will play in achieving our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower.
On 10 February 2026, Great British Energy and the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero published the Local Power Plan which sets out the UK’s largest ever public investment in community energy.
Backed by up to £1 billion, GBE aims to support more than 1,000 local and community energy projects by 2030.
DESNZ will issue a Call for Evidence in 2026 to assess the role of community batteries in the transition and identify measures to scale deployment.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 (a) promote and (b) enforce the new EN-1 and EN-3 requirements associated with incinerators.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1) and the National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure (EN-3) govern planning requirements for larger-scale incinerators (50MW+) that fall under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime. Applications for Development Consent of NSIPs, including larger-scale incinerators, are determined by the Secretary of State under these policy frameworks. In 2025 these documents were updated to reflect current policy, including removal of Critical National Priority policy presumption from Energy from Waste proposals. Updates were subject to public consultation, and the revised energy National Policy Statements were published and came into effect in January 2026.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 suitability of Ithaca Energy developing on Rosebank oil field.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The NSTA is responsible for suitability checks of license-holders, including their technical and financial capability.
The Secretary of State is responsible for determining whether to agree to the grant of consent for development of the project under the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations for offshore oil and gas, and will make a decision in due course.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the proposal to retrofit solar panels and heat pumps in the Warm Homes Plan will apply to Housing Association properties.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our vision is for every household in Britain to have the opportunity to benefit from clean energy technology in their home.
Housing association tenants and low-income households are already having these technologies installed through the Warm Homes: Social Housing fund and Local Grant schemes. The Warm Homes Plan will ensure low-income and fuel poor households, including those in housing association properties in the social rented sector, will benefit from an investment of around £5 billion to 2030 in measures including solar panels and heat pumps.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Budget 2025, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed scrapping of the Energy Company Obligation on heat pump and solar panel (a) installers, (b) manufacturers, (c) importers, (d) wholesalers and (e) the wider supply chain.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
ECO4 has played a part in delivering clean heat technologies; however, issues identified by the NAO and PAC support a shift to a more direct, publicly-funded approach focused on technologies that cut bills and accelerate the transition to clean heat such as heat pumps, solar PV and batteries. The government is providing an additional £1.5 billion—taking planned capital investment to almost £15 billion—to upgrade low‑income homes and scale clean home‑energy technologies. Deployment will be further supported through wider policies and details of this will be set out soon in the Warm Homes Plan.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 ending the ECO scheme on the number of MCS-registered heat pump and solar installations.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
ECO4 has played a part in delivering clean heat technologies; however, issues identified by the NAO and PAC support a shift to a more direct, publicly-funded approach focused on technologies that cut bills and accelerate the transition to clean heat such as heat pumps, solar PV and batteries. The government is providing an additional £1.5 billion—taking planned capital investment to almost £15 billion—to upgrade low‑income homes and scale clean home‑energy technologies. Deployment will be further supported through wider policies and details of this will be set out soon in the Warm Homes Plan.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 prevent people from dying in fuel poverty.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Tackling fuel poverty is a priority for this Government. We will be publishing a new fuel poverty strategy for England to ensure that many more fuel poor households are protected by 2030, in parallel to the Warm Homes Plan.
In March the Government allocated around £1.8 billion to local authorities and social housing providers to support low-income households through the Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. This funding will support 170,000 households to get energy saving upgrades, helping families stay warm and cut bills.
In addition, the Chancellor has announced a further £1.5 billion to support upgrades for low-income households, benefiting those in fuel poverty. The details of this will be set out soon in the Warm Homes Plan.
Financial support is available to eligible low-income households across Great Britain through the Warm Home Discount which has been expanded for this winter increasing the total number of households that are estimated to receive the discount from 3.2 million to around 6 million.
DESNZ is working with other government departments to drive better availability and sharing of data to enable us in the future to more effectively target support to those who need help with their energy bills.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 standing charges on the level of energy bills.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government knows that, for many consumers, too much of the burden of the bill is placed on standing charges. Ofgem have conducted a broad public consultation to understand the views of consumers on this issue, receiving over 5,000 responses on their 2024 discussion paper. Ofgem judged that if standing charges were fully removed, the fixed costs of the energy system would still need to be recovered, and unit rates would therefore need to increase. In Ofgem's view, this introduced a risk of harm for vulnerable consumers who are high users of energy, often for medical and health needs. Since then, Ofgem have been continuing work in two areas.
Firstly, Ofgem have been working to ensure that domestic consumers can choose tariffs with lower standing charges. Ofgem took a further step towards this goal on 24 July, announcing proposals to require suppliers to offer their customers tariffs with lower standing charges from early 2026.
Ofgem’s consultation on these proposals closed on 23 October, and they will provide a further update in due course.
Secondly, Ofgem have been reviewing how ‘fixed’ costs, which tend to be funded through standing charges, should be recovered in the future energy system. This includes whether those fixed costs could be recovered in more progressive ways, and we are working closely with the regulator on this.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when will the Government respond to the recommendations contained in the Nuclear Regulatory Review led by John Fingleton.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
At Budget the Chancellor confirmed that government endorses the report’s approach and accepts the principles of all recommendations it set out.
My Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister has also issued a Strategic Steer which sets clear expectations for the civil, defence, and decommissioning nuclear sectors to accelerate safe and efficient delivery through proportionate regulation and stronger collaboration.
We will present a full implementation plan within three months, taking account of international obligations, national security considerations, and planning, environmental and court processes.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households use the radio teleswitch service for their energy meter connections in Poole constituency.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not hold constituency level data on remaining RTS meters, but we are regularly engaging with energy suppliers, Ofgem and the industry body Energy UK to review local plans for the switch-off.
Energy suppliers have contacted all premises with RTS meters and Ofgem is encouraging customers to book an appointment to ensure they are provided with a replacement meter ahead of the switch-off.