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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer given by Lord Callanan on 25 January (HL11978), what estimate they have made of (1) the number of social houses that will be upgraded to EPC band C by the various schemes listed in that Answer, and (2) how many social houses will remain below EPC band C.

There are approximately 4.1 million social homes in England, with around 1.6 million homes currently rated below the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C.

The 2019 Conservative Manifesto committed to a £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund over a 10-year period, to improve the energy performance of social rented homes. The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund will support the ambition set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, that as many homes as possible are improved to EPC band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective, and affordable, and for all fuel poor homes to reach this target by 2030. The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund will bring a significant amount of the social housing stock that is currently below EPC C up to that standard.

The following schemes are also targeting energy performance improvement in social housing:

The £500m Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme, which aims to improve the energy efficiency of around 50,000 homes rated EPC level D to G, where Social Housing Providers may work with Local Authorities to upgrade their housing stock;

The £50 million Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Demonstrator, which has awarded funding to social landlords across England and Scotland to test innovative approaches to retrofitting at scale, seeing around 2300 social homes improved to at least EPC band C.

The Green Homes Grant voucher scheme, which provides grants to help homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their homes, is open to social, as well as private, landlords.