Oral Answers to Questions

Siobhan Baillie Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

The Government have worked with the Financial Conduct Authority and we will continue to work with it and with credit agencies to ensure that those payment holidays have no impact on borrowers’ credit ratings. However, the checks that banks and financial institutions undertake need to reflect changes to individuals’ income. We do not seek to involve ourselves in commercial decisions. The mortgage lending rates to the self-employed are in line with those overall for the self-employed, but of course I will continue to work with the banks and financial institutions, and the regulators, to keep the situation under review.

[Siobhan Baillie (Stroud) (Con)]

7. What fiscal assessment he has made of the potential merits of a national retrofit strategy for homes as part of the Government’s levelling-up agenda.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Helen Whately)]

The Government’s heat and building strategy announced £3.9 billion of funding to decarbonise buildings over the next three years. This included £1.8 billion of support for low income households. I am sure that my hon. Friend will be pleased to hear that her constituency was recently allocated £5.2 million to retrofit low-income homes.

[Siobhan Baillie]

A retrofit strategy also requires established accreditations that customers can trust and training that workers will want to re-skill into. SGS College, the Active Building Centre and others in my patch across Stroud are uniquely placed to create those programmes and certifications for the whole country so that we can implement the Government’s ambitions. Will my hon. Friend be working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Education to ensure that funding is available for this crucial work?

[Helen Whately]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right say that we need to have the right skilled workforce for our transition to net zero, and training is part of that. This year we have provided £6.4 million to help 18 training providers to train around 8,000 people, and our £2.5 billion funding for the national skills fund includes funding for employer-led boot camps. I would be very happy to meet her to discuss the part that SGS College and the Active Building Centre in her constituency could play in making sure that we have the workforce we need for the net zero transition.