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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress has been made on (a) removing and (b) replacing fossil fuel boilers in (i) public sector and (ii) private sector homes.

BEIS have been supporting the installation of renewable heating systems in public and private sector homes and buildings via the Renewable Heat Incentive. The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive has supported 84,707 installations as of December 2020 and the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive has supported 20,673 installations as of December 2020.

The Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme aims to deliver energy efficiency and clean heat upgrades to 600,000 homes across England. Clean heat measures (including heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers) are one of the groups of primary measures funded through the scheme.

The £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants for public sector bodies to fund energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures, including low carbon heating. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan included a commitment for further funding for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme in the 2021/22 financial year, with more information to be announced in due course.

In addition to this, BEIS’ Heat Networks Investment Project has awarded over £125m for the development and construction of heat networks in England and Wales since its launch in 2018. This will enable greater deployment of heat networks as an alternative to domestic boilers.