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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the level of the installation of home insulation as a percentage of the 2012 level; what assessment they have made of whether this is due to withdrawal of incentives; and what steps they are taking to address any decline.

The level of home insulation under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in 2017 was 5% of the level of home insulation under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) in 2012. 2012 was the final year of the CERT scheme which addressed many of the more cost-effective installations. We have not assessed how much different factors; including less insulation potential, different incentives and targeting have impacted on the different installation rates between the two years.

In the Clean Growth Strategy, we stated that we want all fuel poor homes to be upgraded to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2030 and our aspiration is for as many homes as possible to be EPC Band C by 2035 where practical, cost-effective and affordable. As a step to achieving this alongside ECO, we will develop a long-term trajectory to improve the energy performance standards of privately-rented homes, with the aim of upgrading as many as possible to EPC Band C by 2030 and consult on how social housing can meet similar standards over this period.