Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will (a) increase the remit of local leaders to enable them to implement ambitious local home insulation schemes in the context of rising energy bills and (b) take steps with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to allocate further funding for those schemes.

The Government believes that strong and dynamic local leadership, that can understand how complex issues come together in a place, tailor policy to local priorities, attract investment and seize each area’s opportunities, is critical to levelling up.

This is why we set out a 'devolution framework' in the Levelling Up White Paper. The framework provides a clear menu of options for places in England that wish to unlock the benefits of devolution, including by giving places the opportunity to adopt innovative local proposals to deliver action on climate change and the UK’s net zero targets.

We will continue to explore whether additional functions or roles could support local areas to achieve their local net zero priorities.