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 the potential impact of the Warm Homes Plan’s funding allocation on the retention of the skilled retrofit workforce; and what steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are included in delivery frameworks for home energy upgrades.

The Warm Homes Plan will create 180,000 high-quality jobs in energy efficiency and clean heating by 2030. Chapter Six of the plan outlines the actions that the Government will be taking to support and facilitate growth, jobs and innovation. This includes establishing a new Workforce Taskforce in partnership with the Trade Unions Congress, the £8 million Warm Homes Skills Programme, and an extension of the Heat Training Grant.

I also recently led the ECO Supply Chain Transition Task and Finish Working Group which met on Tuesday 17 March to discuss support for the workforce affected by the closure of ECO. The group will coordinate sub-contracting and unblock barriers to SMEs and local supply chains accessing additional work on our expanded capital investment programmes.