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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made a comparative regional assessment of the impact of higher temperatures on homes across England during heat waves in the context of a potential variance in the standards of building insulation.

The English Housing Survey collects a range of information about England's housing stock, including the insulation and construction of dwellings and whether occupants have reported that parts of their home get overheated. According to the 2020-21 survey, occupants in dwellings built with timber, concrete or steel frames or with insulated cavity walls were more likely to report overheating (between 9% and 18%) than those living in masonry or uninsulated solid walled dwellings (between 5% and 8%).

The findings also show that dwelling construction types vary by region. London had the lowest proportion of masonry dwellings and the highest proportion of concrete dwellings compared with other regions.