First elected: 7th May 2015
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Increase curriculum content about water safety as part of swimming lessons
Gov Responded - 3 Jun 2021 Debated on - 12 Jul 2021 View Peter Kyle's petition debate contributionsAs a country we see many water-related fatalities every year. We see many more call outs to water related incidents. Throughout lockdown year our coastguards were tasked to almost double the call outs than in the previous year. Our children NEED to learn about Cold water shock & rip currents.
Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum
Gov Responded - 30 Jul 2020 Debated on - 28 Jun 2021 View Peter Kyle's petition debate contributionsCurrently, it is not compulsory for primary or secondary school students to be educated on Britain's role in colonisation, or the transatlantic slave trade. We petition the government to make education on topics such as these compulsory, with the ultimate aim of a far more inclusive curriculum.
Exempt golf courses from the list of venues required to close due to Covid-19
Gov Responded - 23 Nov 2020 Debated on - 23 Nov 2020 View Peter Kyle's petition debate contributionsIsolation essential to the Government’s strategy for fighting coronavirus, and UK citizens must remain healthy and exercise whilst keeping adequate distance between people. The Government should allow golf courses to open so families or individuals can play golf in order to exercise safely.
Prevent gyms closing due to a spike in Covid 19 cases
Gov Responded - 28 Oct 2020 Debated on - 23 Nov 2020 View Peter Kyle's petition debate contributionsIn the event of a spike we would like you not to close gyms as a measure to stop any spread of Covid. Also for gyms to not be put in the same group as pubs in terms of risk or importance. Gyms are following strict guidelines and most members are following rules in a sober manner.
These initiatives were driven by Peter Kyle, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Peter Kyle has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Peter Kyle has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
A Bill to make provision about the duties and responsibilities of the Victims’ Commissioner and about the Victims’ Code; to make provision about the rights of victims of persistent anti-social behaviour; to require local police forces to prepare victims’ services plans and take steps in connection with victim representative bodies; to establish a duty to report suspected child exploitation by those working in regulated activities; to establish a right of appeal by victims against a decision to cease a criminal investigation; to make provision for reviews of open or reopened homicide cases; to make provision about court procedures relating to vulnerable victims and witnesses; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to reduce the voting age to 16 in parliamentary and other elections; to make provision for auto-enrolment onto the electoral register for people aged 16 to 24; to make provision about the use of educational establishments as polling stations; and for connected purposes.
Climate Change (Emissions Targets) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Rachel Reeves (Lab)
Automatic Travel Compensation Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Huw Merriman (Con)
Local Electricity Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Jeremy Lefroy (Con)
Representation of the People (Young People's Enfranchisement and Education) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Jim McMahon (LAB)
Courts (Abuse of Process) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Liz Saville Roberts (PC)
Companies Documentation (Transgender Persons) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Con)
Rail Ombudsman Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Tim Loughton (Con)
Short and Holiday-Let Accommodation (Notification of Local Authorities) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Karen Buck (Lab)
Improvement of Rail Passenger Services (Use of Disruption Payments) Bill 2015-16
Sponsor - Joan Ryan (TIG)
Requests for referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) Scheme are made to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). Many victims contact the AGO directly and do not go to the CPS, and therefore the CPS do not hold all relevant data. All requests made via the CPS are reflected in the AGO statistics.
The AGO received 787 requests to review sentences under the ULS in 2020 and 144 requests were from victims and family members of victims. Of those 84 were eligible for review within the scheme and 14 of those were referred to the Court of Appeal. The data held by the AGO shows of the 14 cases referred: 4 were homicide cases, 8 were non-fatal offences against the person and 2 cases were categorised as rape and sexual offences. The Court of Appeal increased the sentence in 9 of those cases.
Unfortunately, the CPS does not hold this information. The 28-day statutory time limit is absolute; the statute provides no power to extend or to apply for leave to refer sentences to the Court of Appeal out of time. I very much welcome the introduction of the new Victim’s Code which was introduced on 1 April 2021 and which places an obligation on Witness Care Officers to notify victims about the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
The CPS recognises that the exploitation, grooming, and trafficking of children and young people is abhorrent and it takes great care to ensure the right people are prosecuted for the right offences.
Face to face training on the circumstances in which a prosecution would not be appropriate has been delivered to in excess of 330 prosecutors dealing with high volume drug crime in Youth and Magistrates’ Courts in the last three years. This includes training on section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The CPS also delivers a face-to-face Youth Specialist course which includes training on how to recognise the signs of exploitation and slavery and has been delivered to in excess of 300 prosecutors this year. Both courses have been adapted for delivery via videoconference during the Covid-19 crisis.
The CPS recognises that the exploitation, grooming, and trafficking of children and young people is abhorrent and it takes great care to ensure the right people are prosecuted for the right offences.
Face to face training on the circumstances in which a prosecution would not be appropriate has been delivered to in excess of 330 prosecutors dealing with high volume drug crime in Youth and Magistrates’ Courts in the last three years. This includes training on section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The CPS also delivers a face-to-face Youth Specialist course which includes training on how to recognise the signs of exploitation and slavery and has been delivered to in excess of 300 prosecutors this year. Both courses have been adapted for delivery via videoconference during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the outcomes of completed prosecutions, as a count of the number of defendants finalised, and collates the data collected by quarter. Each non-conviction (or ‘unsuccessful’) outcome is allocated a reason, indicating the principal reason the defendant was not convicted. The CPS also collects data which reports the number of prosecuted defendants allocated to twelve Principal Offence Categories.
The table below shows the number of non-convictions due to victim issues by Principal Offence Category in each quarter from Q3 2018-19 (October to December 2018) to Q4 2019-20 (January to March 2020).
| 18/19-Q3 | 18/19-Q4 | 19/20-Q1 | 19/20-Q2 | 19/20-Q3 | 19/20-Q4 |
Homicide | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Offences Against The Person | 2,770 | 2,687 | 2,419 | 2,520 | 1,997 | 1,992 |
Sexual Offences | 96 | 65 | 47 | 49 | 59 | 49 |
Burglary | 55 | 58 | 44 | 49 | 31 | 73 |
Robbery | 59 | 81 | 49 | 86 | 68 | 62 |
Theft And Handling | 106 | 104 | 112 | 100 | 84 | 98 |
Fraud And Forgery | 22 | 23 | 22 | 16 | 26 | 15 |
Criminal Damage | 237 | 218 | 189 | 199 | 162 | 159 |
Drugs Offences | 7 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 8 | 9 |
Public Order Offences | 150 | 140 | 151 | 147 | 134 | 127 |
All Other Offences (excluding Motoring) | 21 | 23 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
Motoring Offences | 66 | 60 | 47 | 67 | 51 | 57 |
Other (No Category Allocated) | 3 | 2 | 9 | 19 | 5 | 10 |
Total Non-Convictions due to Victim Issues | 3,594 | 3,468 | 3,111 | 3,286 | 2,643 | 2,673 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
The table below provides a breakdown by Principal Offence Category of prosecution outcomes resulting in a non-conviction due to victim issues as a percentage of all prosecutions. The table shows that the proportion of non-convictions due to victim reasons are a very small proportion of all prosecutions.
| 18/19-Q3 | 18/19-Q4 | 19/20-Q1 | 19/20-Q2 | 19/20-Q3 | 19/20-Q4 |
Homicide | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Offences Against The Person | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.1% | 2.1% | 1.8% | 1.9% |
Sexual Offences | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
Burglary | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
Robbery | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Theft And Handling | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Fraud And Forgery | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Criminal Damage | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Drugs Offences | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Public Order Offences | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
All Other Offences (excluding Motoring) | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Motoring Offences | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
Other (No Category Allocated) | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Non-Convictions due to Victim Issues as a percentage of all prosecutions | 3.0% | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 2.4% | 2.5% |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of prosecutions for sex for rent arrangements and advertisements under section 52 or 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This information could only be obtained by an examination of individual CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost. Therefore, the CPS is unable to make an assessment of the effectiveness of updated CPS guidance on prosecutions of sex for rent arrangements and advertisements.
Prosecutors will consider all guidance available to them when applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors to determine whether there is enough evidence to charge and if it is in the public interest to bring a case to court.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of prosecutions for sex for rent arrangements and advertisements under section 52 or 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This information could only be obtained by an examination of individual CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost. Therefore, the CPS is unable to make an assessment of the effectiveness of updated CPS guidance on prosecutions of sex for rent arrangements and advertisements.
Prosecutors will consider all guidance available to them when applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors to determine whether there is enough evidence to charge and if it is in the public interest to bring a case to court.
The Crown Prosecution Service is working to to protect the interests of victims and witnesses by ensuring that defendants properly remanded in custody remain in custody.
Custody Time Limits (CTLs) apply to all cases in which a defendant has been remanded in custody pending trial. Those time limits can be extended if the courts are satisfied that there is good and sufficient cause and if the prosecution have acted with all due diligence and expedition. The adjournment of criminal trials may require an extension of a CTL.
Following the suspension of jury trials the CPS agreed a Protocol for Custody Time Limit Cases with the Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). The Protocol is a temporary framework during the Coronavirus pandemic for the efficient handling of cases that involve a custody time limit. The Protocol sets out an agreed process for the listing and handling of CTL cases; an agreed understanding of the law in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic; and arrangements for information sharing.
The courts consider the issue of bail at each hearing and on any application for bail made by a defendant. Should the court decide to grant bail, whether at the end of any CTL or at another hearing, the court can impose conditions to ensure that a suspect does not interfere with witnesses or obstruct the course of justice, including the electronic monitoring of suspects.
The Government has made transparency around automated decision-making a priority through the publication of the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard (ATRS). The ATRS was endorsed by the Data Standards Authority (DSA), and the first approved version was published in January 2023. Any standards that have been designated by the DSA have an expectation that they will be adopted where there is a use case.
The i.AI team are committed to the development of safe, secure and transparent government AI. The pilot programmes are at various stages of development, and each will be subject to robust testing and evaluation in collaboration with other government expert teams including CDDO, DSIT and the AISI. This will include the completion of Algorithmic Transparency Standards for projects that move past Alpha stages, informed by user testing and pilot programmes.
The Red Box Copilot has been made available to the Private Offices of Minister Burghart, of the Cabinet Secretary, and of the Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service, in which it is either currently or will shortly be going through more formal testing.
Government Digital Service (GDS) tested an early prototype of a Large Language Model (LLM) powered chatbot (GOV.UK Chat) in December 2023. Feedback, and the quality of answers provided, were analysed from 200 users.
Nearly 70% of users found the prototype-generated responses to be useful and the answers were assessed to be accurate 80% of the time.
Ensuring the highest level of accuracy and efficiency is a priority, which is why the next phase of development and testing will focus on how to improve accuracy of the model and explore how users could best discover and use the service.
The government has made transparency around automated decision-making a priority through the publication of the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard (ATRS). The ATRS was endorsed by the Data Standards Authority (DSA), and the first approved version was published in January 2023.
The Red Box Copilot is currently in Alpha, being tested in a controlled, transparent manner in a small number of private offices.
Any standards that have been designated by the DSA have an expectation that they will be adopted where there is a use case. As the AI Red Box is being piloted, the Government will consider the publication of an ATRS record, post evaluation.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.
Special Advisers are appointed to assist a Minister of the Crown after being selected by that Minister personally. All appointments must be approved by the Prime Minister. This is set out in Section 15 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Separately, and in advance of Ministerial approval in accordance with the statutory requirement, it is open to political parties to undertake activity to identify individuals that Ministers may wish to consider for selection. This is not part of the appointment by Government but rather for the political party concerned.
Previously, the existence of such opportunities has generally not been made public. Openly encouraging people to express their interest, with greater information about what the opportunities may entail, will help broaden the field of potential candidates.
Special Advisers are appointed to assist a Minister of the Crown after being selected by that Minister personally. All appointments must be approved by the Prime Minister. This is set out in Section 15 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Separately, and in advance of Ministerial approval in accordance with the statutory requirement, it is open to political parties to undertake activity to identify individuals that Ministers may wish to consider for selection. This is not part of the appointment by Government but rather for the political party concerned.
Previously, the existence of such opportunities has generally not been made public. Openly encouraging people to express their interest, with greater information about what the opportunities may entail, will help broaden the field of potential candidates.
The Department for Business and Trade is currently setting up an industry-led taskforce to rapidly explore how best to support SMEs to adopt digital technology. Progress is being made on the remit, Chair and membership of the taskforce and we will be launching the taskforce shortly
A sum of £15,000 was paid without admitting any liability. This approach is intended to reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer that could result from protracted legal action.
Costs relating to legal fees incurred by the department will be published as part of DSIT’s Annual Report and Accounts.
The Secretary of State is a staunch believer in free speech and would not authorise a sweeping collection of the views of academics.
As has been the practice under successive Governments, it is not the convention to comment on where the Law Officers have, or have not been, informed or advised on such legal matters. This is reflected in paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code.
I refer the hon. Member to the opening statement by the Secretary of State at the Lords Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee on 12 March 2024.
The Government has invested over £290m in AI skills and talent initiatives as we’re committed to building a sustainable pipeline of skilled workers in the UK. My Department has been working closely with the Home Office on developing a new dedicated visa scheme for the world’s most talented AI researchers to come to the UK on internships and placements, early in their careers, to encourage them to build their careers, ideas and businesses here.
This will further strengthen the UK’s generous and points-based immigration system, which enables talented international researchers to come to the UK through a number of visa routes, including the approved Temporary Worker Government Authorised Exchange schemes for individuals interested in short-term internships, training and work experience.
The Responsible Technology Adoption Unit has 31 staff members currently in post with 8 positions in active recruitment.
The £30 million AI and Data Science Conversion Course programme was established in 2020 to broaden the supply of talent in the UK AI labour market. It funded universities to develop masters level AI or data science courses suitable for non-STEM students and 2,600 scholarships for students from backgrounds underrepresented in the tech industry.
We are already seeing the positive impact the programme is having in addressing the AI skills gap. As of March 2023 6,300 students have enrolled on the programme, almost three times our targets. 73% of scholarships awarded to women, 35% awarded to Black students, and 26% awarded to disabled students. The courses are successfully converting non-STEM students to enter the AI labour market: 88% of employed graduates were in employment directly related to AI or data science, either in the public or private sector.
In 2023 an industry co-funding element was added, whereby industry could support the programme through in-kind support or scholarship funding. As of November 2023, this amounted to over £6.5 million in in-kind support and scholarship funding. The in-kind contributions directly support student employability and includes co-design and delivery of course content to ensure students gain skills to meet sector need; providing access to software and applications to support learning and skills development; and opportunities to engage with industry through employer-led talks and workshops, industry mentoring support, and provision of work-based projects and placements.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.
As the Department with responsibility for AI policy and strengthening the UK’s capabilities in AI, DSIT will continue to look to identify new uses for AI in the public sector. The work the department started on AI for Good during the summit will support this. We will work with the recently established Incubator for Artificial Intelligence and with departments and public sector organisations leading on identifying use cases in their remit to drive responsible innovation in AI across the public sector.
Each public sector organisation leads on identifying new uses of AI specific to them, and therefore the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) does not identify and track these. DSIT itself has not adopted or deployed any AI tools, it is working to use technologies such as automation and AI innovatively to improve outcomes and efficiency, but we are in the pilot stage at the moment.
The Government agreed to keep written summaries confidential. These summaries contain commercially sensitive information, as well as information about special measures put in place to tackle content related to the conflict, which could be exploited by bad actors if published.
However, the Government has been clear with platforms that they should be adequately protecting their users. The Government is in regular contact with platforms as part of the process of closely monitoring their responses. The Government also convened social media platforms and community groups to facilitate direct feedback about the impact of this content.
Government is moving quickly to establish the right guardrails for AI to drive responsible, safe innovation. In March, we published the AI Regulation White Paper which set out our first steps towards establishing a regulatory framework for AI.
We will be publishing our response to the consultation later this year, to ensure we can take into account the outcomes of the productive discussions of the AI Safety Summit held at the beginning of November.
Since publishing the White Paper, we have taken rapid steps to implement our approach. We have established a central AI risk function in DSIT which will ensure that we can identify, measure and monitor existing and emerging AI risks. We also announced the world’s first AI Safety Institute which will carefully examine, test and evaluate new types of AI. This builds on our investment of £100 million in the Frontier AI Taskforce – more funding for AI safety than any other country in the world.
The Government held a roundtable with social companies including YouTube, Meta, X, TikTok and Snapchat on 11 October to discuss the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
During this meeting, companies were asked to follow-up in writing to confirm the steps they are taking to tackle extremely violent and antisemitic content. These companies have all since followed up in writing. The Government continues to engage directly with individual companies and will keep the current approach under review.
The UK government is taking a leading role promoting ethical, safe and responsible adoption of AI, as illustrated by our leadership of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park last week. This includes the use of AI to improve public services and boost public sector productivity.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is looking to identify new uses for AI in the public sector. Examples include: the AI Life Sciences Accelerator Mission giving £100 million of funding to capitalise on AI’s game-changing potential in healthcare; the Department for Education providing up to £2million to Oak National Academy to improve and expand Artificial Intelligence tools for teachers; the Department of Health and Social Care using AI to identify language indicating mental distress in public social media posts and signposting people to a NHS-endorsed mental health service; and the Royal Navy using AI to connect with potential recruits faster through an AI-driven virtual recruiter.
The Department currently has 14 researchers as part of the Frontier AI Taskforce but intends increase that number. The Frontier AI Taskforce was launched by the Prime Minister in June to build an AI research team inside government that can evaluate risk at the frontier of AI.
The Government is continuing to work closely with social media companies to understand the policies and processes they have in place to prevent harmful and illegal content from being dispersed online, and their crisis management response.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is engaging with individual companies and will be keeping the approach under continual review.
We have published an impact assessment for the Bill which is available on GOV.UK. Departments will assess, where required, the impacts of any changes to REUL they make using the powers in the Bill in due course.
Households in Northern Ireland will receive a £400 discount on their energy bills through the Northern Ireland Energy Bills Support Scheme (NI EBSS) this winter. The Government is working intensively with electricity suppliers to deliver a solution and to provide the support as soon as possible.
The Government has doubled to £200 the level of support for households that use alternative fuels to heat their home, which will be delivered as soon as possible this winter. The Government will provide this payment to all Northern Ireland households in recognition of the prevalence of alternative fuel usage.
As set out in the Impact assessment published on GOV.UK:
It is on the basis of these figures that we have calculated that the cost of an average heating oil bill in Northern Ireland over the past year, based on typical demand, was £820 at September 2021 prices, and £1900 at September 2022 prices.
Households in Northern Ireland will receive a £400 discount on their energy bills through the Northern Ireland Energy Bills Support Scheme (NI EBSS) this winter.
This will offer the same level of support as households in Great Britain are receiving under the Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS). The Government is working at pace to deliver a solution which accounts for the Northern Ireland market and to provide the support as soon as possible.
The annual cost of heating a typical household with heating oil rose by £903 in Great Britain (from £615 to £1,518) and £1,080 in Northern Ireland (from £820 to £1,900) from September 2021 to September 2022. This was an increase of 147% in Great Britain and 132% in Northern Ireland.
A payment of £100 will effectively limit the increase in heating costs to 130% for a typical household, in line with the benefit offered by the Energy Price Guarantee. A typical household is based on Government analysis of demand which takes into account the characteristics of the UK housing stock.
The support provided to off-grid households is intended to ensure that they do not face a higher rate of growth in their heating costs since last autumn, compared to those on gas supported by the Energy Price Guarantee.
Where there is a domestic electricity connection and an inclusive charge is made for accommodation with no specified charge for gas or electricity and no separate agreement for the resale of energy, parties are encouraged to come to an agreement on the EBSS discount, in line with the arrangements in their respective contracts or tenancy agreements.
In respect of their heating costs, those on communal heating networks will primarily benefit through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, details of which were announced on 21 September. They will also receive support in respect of their electricity costs through the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
This matter is devolved to the Northern Ireland Administration.
The Government’s ambition is for as many homes as possible reach EPC Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. The UK has already made good progress in improving the energy performance of its homes, with 40% of homes in England now at Energy Performance Ratings (EPC) Band C or above, up from just 9% in 2008.
In order to support further improvements to homes, the Government is:
The Government’s ambition is for as many homes as possible reach EPC Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. The UK has already made good progress in improving the energy performance of its homes, with 40% of homes in England now at Energy Performance Ratings (EPC) Band C or above, up from just 9% in 2008.
In order to support further improvements to homes, the Government is:
The Government’s ambition is for as many homes as possible reach EPC Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. The UK has already made good progress in improving the energy performance of its homes, with 40% of homes in England now at Energy Performance Ratings (EPC) Band C or above, up from just 9% in 2008.
In order to support further improvements to homes, the Government is:
The Government’s ambition is for as many homes as possible reach EPC Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. The UK has already made good progress in improving the energy performance of its homes, with 40% of homes in England now at Energy Performance Ratings (EPC) Band C or above, up from just 9% in 2008.
In order to support further improvements to homes, the Government is:
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) use an Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) to measure the energy performance of homes based on their estimated running costs. Since energy costs can be a significant outlay, it is important that homeowners and occupiers are aware of the running costs of their home. Basing the rating and recommendations of the EPC on cost ensures that improvements recommended by the EPC will lead to a reduction in energy costs.
The Government continues to keep the metrics on the EPC under review as we develop policy to decarbonise buildings and tackle fuel poverty. Recent consultations on policies that use EPCs, such as minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector, have sought views on different metric options, such as the use of both a carbon-based and cost-based metric.
Furthermore, to ensure electric heat pumps will be no more expensive to run than gas boilers, we want to work with energy providers to reduce the price of electricity over the next decade by shifting levies and obligations away from electricity. We will launch a call for evidence on the different options for rebalancing electricity and gas prices, with a view to taking decisions in 2022.