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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to improve the roll-out rate of the Green Homes Grant scheme.

We are engaging with and listening to feedback from customers and installers and based on this we have already made changes to the scheme to improve the roll-out rate. These include allowing subcontractors to more easily take part in the scheme, reducing the cost of accreditation by 50% for Green Homes Grant scheme installers on the cost of purchasing some PAS standards, streamlining certification processes where possible for installers and making the application process easier for customers.

We have numerous channels for dialogue with the supply chain and consumer groups, including roundtables with certification bodies, trade bodies and representatives from the industry. In December the Department held its first installer Webinar, taking questions and walking through the scheme details and processes with over 150 installers in attendance.

We continue to work with Trustmark and the scheme administrator to ensure as many companies as possible can take part in the scheme and increase the roll-out rate. The £6.9m skills competition we launched in September will provide training opportunities for energy efficiency and low carbon heating supply chains to deliver works and scale up to meet additional consumer demand.