Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what is the average waiting time was for a decision on a green deal complaint raised with the Secretary of State under the Green Deal Framewor (Disclosure Acknowledgement Redress etc) Regulations 2012.

To date, there have been 54 complaints received by the Secretary of State under the Green Deal Framework (Disclosure Acknowledgement Redress etc.) Regulations 2012 (‘the Regulations’). These complaints include 34 consumers who have rejected an offer made by a finance party to reduce or cancel a Green Deal loan.

Out of the 54 complaints received, one has completed the Green Deal sanctions process associated with consumer redress. In that case, no sanction was imposed as no redress beyond that provided by the finance party in question (which was cancellation of the loan and refund of loan repayments) was possible under the Regulations. The Secretary of State has issued intention notices for three further cases.

There may be Green Deal complaints with other bodies which have not been passed to the Department, and it is therefore not possible to accurately calculate the proportion of complaints that have been brought to my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State.

The legal nature of the redress process and detailed information involved means complaints can take some time to resolve. The case that has completed the sanction process took six months to resolve from being formally received by the Secretary of State. These are complex cases and the Department remains committed to resolving cases fairly and as quickly as possible.