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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what her Department's timescale is for processing appeals from people who claim to have been adversely affected by the Green Deal Scheme.

There is a specific process for handling complaints under the Green Deal. This starts with a complaint by the consumer to their Green Deal Provider. If not resolved satisfactorily, the consumer may then approach the Green Deal Ombudsman or the Financial Ombudsman Service, depending on the nature of the complaint. Their decisions will be binding on the Green Deal Provider. If after progressing through those channels the consumer is still not satisfied, they may request that their complaint be referred to the Secretary of State for consideration.

In respect of such referrals, the Secretary of State may reduce or cancel a Green Deal loan, if she is satisfied that there has been a breach of the law or code of practice.

The cancellation or reduction of a loan represents the full extent of the Secretary of State’s power to provide redress for consumers in relation to the Green Deal.

BEIS aims to ensure that cases are concluded as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring that fair redress is provided where appropriate and decisions take account of all available, relevant evidence.

BEIS currently has a number of outstanding appeal cases and we have taken steps to speed-up the handling process. We are making progress and this has resulted in the recent issuing of 4 final sanctions and 16 Intention Notices. We expect these numbers to increase significantly soon.