Department for Energy Security & Net Zero

The extension of the Grangemouth Training Guarantee to support INEOS Olefins & Polymers shared services employees directly affected by the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery builds on support put in place earlier this year for Grangemouth refinery workers. This brings the total projected investment in the Grangemouth Training Guarantee from UK and Scottish Governments up to £2 million. The Grangemouth Training Guarantee is a joint project between UK and Scottish Governments and both governments will provide equal funding.

We are working closely with Forth Valley College who will mapping workers skills and qualifications, and training needs to identify and deliver re/upskilling support and training. UK and Scottish Governments will use the findings of the Training Need Analysis to fund the delivery of training. Final costs are dependent on the outcome of the Training Need Analysis.

We thank the Climate Change Committee for their report which highlights the significant progress this Government has made to reduce emissions over the past year. We are now considering their recommendations and will respond by October.

The Government recognises that renewable liquid heating fuels (RLHF) could play a role in heating. As it is a limited resource, the Government expect sustainable biomass to be prioritised where there are limited alternatives for decarbonisation. RLHFs are also much more expensive to use than other heating solutions.

Before taking decisions on whether to support the use of RLHFs, including the introduction of any obligation, the Government would require stronger evidence on their affordability for consumers, and the availability of sustainable feedstocks.

The Government is determined to ensure that, where communities host clean energy infrastructure, they benefit from it directly.

We recently published a working paper on community benefits, in which we proposed making it mandatory for developers to provide community benefit funds. The working paper was also a call for evidence about whether/how to expand shared ownership of renewable generation technology. We are currently analysing responses and will issue a response in due course.

In the meantime, Solar Energy UK, the industry trade body, will publish a voluntary community benefit protocol later this year.

No such assessment has been made. However, the Government believes our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently.

The Government takes the protection and resilience of energy infrastructure incredibly seriously. We continue to work extensively with the energy sector, industry and other key stakeholders to identify and implement improvements to ensure energy infrastructure, including Huntingdon Gas Compressor, can safely operate and are resilient both now and in the future.

Ofgem is currently developing the RIIO-3 price control framework 2026–2031, which will set the level of permitted investment in maintaining and upgrading the gas network. This ensures companies can continue to invest in safe and reliable infrastructure, while keeping costs fair and transparent for consumers.

The Government is looking to facilitate and promote extensive deployment of rooftop solar on industrial and commercial property.

Commercial rooftop solar panel installations, which includes agricultural buildings, already benefit from permitted development rights. This mean there is no limit to the capacity of a solar installation or a requirement for planning permission, though prior approval is required for installations greater than 50kW.

The UK’s overall approach to Net Zero commercial buildings will be set out in the government’s Warm Homes Plan strategy later this year.

In the recently published Solar Roadmap, we set out our expectation that the solar industry could support up to 35,000 UK jobs in 2030. No estimates were made for Anglesey or Wales. Our assessment is that solar will not pose a threat to food security, whilst any Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project development will be required to undergo detailed environmental and other statutory impact assessment

A new nuclear project at any location would help create skilled, high-value jobs although no decisions have yet been taken on any nuclear project to be deployed at the Wylfa site.

We remain committed to developing and deploying Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) at scale in the UK, recognising the important role they play in achieving net zero. The Government will deliver an updated plan that sets out the policy package out to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037 for all sectors of the economy, including GGRs, by October 2025. The Government will also set Carbon Budget 7 by June 2026, in line with our statutory duties.

Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) will be important to Net Zero - balancing residual emissions from hard-to-abate sectors whilst providing economic opportunities. In August Government published details of the GGR Business Model and published the Carbon Capture and Storage HyNet Track-1 expansion Project Negotiation List, which includes two GGR projects. To support demand, Government published a response to the consultation on the integration of GGRs into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and consulted on options to ensure integrity of the Voluntary Carbon and Nature Market. To ensure removals are measurable and verifiable, in July the British Standards Institution, commissioned by Government, published interim methodologies for Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage and Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage. The Government has also invested £100 million in research and innovation for GGRs, including the GGRs Innovation Programme.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is looking at ways to improve the visibility of supply chains for developers and suppliers, including through a Meet the Specifier event, where developers can meet with potential suppliers prior to procurement.

As part of the HAR2 process, we will be engaging with HAR2 shortlisted project representatives with a view to holding this event as soon as projects are in a position to share their technical specifications with potential supply chain companies. We expect to announce successful HAR2 projects in the first half of 2026.

Sizewell C plans to award 70% of construction value to British businesses, and the supply chain is expected to include 3500 British companies, from all four parts of the UK. The project has already placed more than £4bn-worth of contracts with UK companies.

Sizewell C will be a second of a kind project, as an above ground replica of Hinkley Point C. As well as the design, Sizewell C will replicate many aspects of Hinkley’s supply chain; this is expected to give greater certainty of cost and construction requirements, which will ultimately benefit UK taxpayers and consumers.

The previous Minister of State for Industry met the BCSSS Trustees on 22 April, 11 June and 22 July and confirmed the Government’s commitment to considering their proposals regarding the reserve and the future of the scheme. DESNZ will now engage HM Treasury with a view to agreeing a way forward on the transfer of the reserve to members.

The Government is aiming to reach agreement on an outcome that can be implemented later this year which will benefit scheme members.

The STEP prototype fusion powerplant will be delivered by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd. (UKIFS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), itself sponsored by DESNZ and fully owned by the UK Government. STEP will be delivered in several phases. The first has been completed producing the powerplant concept design, site selection (West Burton) and identifying the appropriate regulatory framework. Site characterisation is ongoing, and a live tender is underway to select industrial partners to work on the plant with UKIFS, and Fusion R&D Partner UKAEA.

The Government is currently consulting on proposals to streamline the infrastructure planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

Our reforms aim to ensure the system is flexible, proportionate, and responsive to Government priorities and build on proposals in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that could reduce the typical time spent in pre-application by up to 12 months. Subject to passage of the Bill this would apply to all projects seeking development consent under the Planning Act 2008.

Once the consultation closes on 27 October 2025, the Government will carefully analyse all responses received to shape the final policy decisions and any legislative changes.

The UK’s £300m HALEU programme will be the first commercial scale capability outside of Russia and is due to deliver in the early 2030s.

The programme is already underway with site preparation work having commenced on the £196 million enrichment project at Urenco’s Capenhurst site, to develop an enrichment capability. Further funding has been allocated to support the HALEU supply chain through awards to National Transport Solution on transportation prototypes (including testing and development of pilot transport packages for safely and securely moving HALEU), the regulators and our National Nuclear Laboratory building our technical capabilities. This project will support building resilient nuclear supply chains, free from political interference and reduce global reliance on Russia.

As part of the REMA Summer Update on the 10th of July 2025, we announced that we will not implement zonal pricing.

In the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, the Department estimated that the plan would require around £40 billion of investment on average per year between 2025-2030, much of which will be private investment [1]. This included around £30 billion of investment in generation assets per year, together with around £10 billion of investment in electricity transmission network assets per year, estimated by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) [2]. These estimates are in 2024 prices, undiscounted, and rounded to the nearest 10 billion. A substantial proportion of the network costs estimated by NESO would be associated with pylons and cables. In their Clean Power 2030 advice to Government, NESO also estimated that of the £30 billion technology investment required per annum between 2025-30, low carbon flex capacity – which includes batteries and long duration storage – would require approximately ~£5bn per year in investment over the same period [3].

1. DESNZ, Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: A new era of clean electricity: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-power-2030-action-plan

2. DESNZ, Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: A new era of clean electricity – technical annex: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6776727f6a79200ddfa21b81/clean-power-2030-action-plan-technical-annex.pdf

3. NESO, Advice on achieving clean power by 2030, Annex 4: Costs and benefit analysis, p. 21: https://www.neso.energy/document/346806/download

DESNZ do not produce their own figures on the number of jobs within the civil nuclear sector. Cogent Skills, who published their industry-led 2024 Nuclear Workforce Assessment, estimated that the civil nuclear sector supported over 51,000 jobs in 2024.

The Government supports ground mount solar through its Contracts for Difference scheme, which has supported 7.5GW so far. It supports demand for rooftop solar by various means, including favourable tax treatment, permitted development rights, new building standards, the Smart Export Guarantee, and the £13.2bn being made available through the ambitious Warm Homes Plan.

The Government recently published the Solar Roadmap, which set out actions for government and industry to remove barriers to deployment. Progress will be monitored by a Ministerially chaired Solar Council, allowing industry representatives to engage directly on any challenges or opportunities which arise.

The Government recognises that we need to support households in constituencies like Newbury and across the UK who struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we delivered the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households last winter. On 19 June we announced that we are expanding the Warm Home Discount to around an additional 2.7 million households. This means that from next winter, around 6 million low-income households will receive the £150 support to help with their energy bill costs.

The Government has been clear with suppliers that they should do all that they can to support their customers – including vulnerable consumers – who may be struggling with their bills. I would urge any consumers who are struggling to pay their bills to speak to their supplier, local authority, or Citizens Advice who may be able to provide help and support. Your constituents in Newbury can also visit the GOV.UK website, where extra cost-of-living support can be found: www.gov.uk/cost-of-living.

The Government is continuing to work with Ofgem and energy suppliers to ensure energy bills remain fair and affordable while we transition to clean power by 2030.

Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) will be important to Net Zero - balancing residual emissions from hard-to-abate sectors whilst providing economic opportunities. In August Government published details of the GGR Business Model and published the Carbon Capture and Storage HyNet Track-1 expansion Project Negotiation List, which includes two GGR projects. To support demand, Government published a response to the consultation on the integration of GGRs into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and have consulted on options to ensure integrity of the Voluntary Carbon and Nature Market. To ensure removals are measurable and verifiable, the British Standards Institution, commissioned by Government, published in July interim methodologies for Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage and Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage. The Government has also invested £100 million in research and innovation for GGRs, including the GGRs Innovation Programme.

The Government will deliver an updated plan that sets out the policy package out to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037 for all sectors of the economy, including Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs), by October 2025. The Government will also set Carbon Budget 7 by June 2026, in line with our statutory duties. Under the Climate Change Act, the UK has a legally binding commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. GGR technologies will be important for reaching net zero – balancing residual emissions from hard-to-decarbonise sectors while providing new economic opportunities.

As part of the REMA Summer Update on the 10^th of July 2025, we concluded the REMA policy development and published our decision to retain a single national, GB-wide, wholesale market pricing regime and introduce an ambitious package of reforms to improve the efficiency of our power system. We will not implement zonal pricing.

We will set out how the reforms will be implemented in our Reformed National Pricing Delivery Plan later this year.

In the Industrial Strategy the Government has committed to further align our civil and defence nuclear capabilities. We plan to set out further details of our plans for future collaboration later this year.

As announced in the Clean Energy Sector Plan of the Industrial Strategy, Great British Energy and Great British Nuclear will invest more than £8.3 billion over this Parliament in homegrown clean power.

Specifically, as part of the £10 million Mayoral Renewables Fund announced by Great British Energy on 17 July 2025, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority was awarded £700,000 to deliver clean energy projects in their communities helping to lower energy bills.

Additionally, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Authority received a share of 6.8m to host the Greater South East Net Zero Hub, and a further share of £5 million through the Great British Energy Community Fund, which it can use to support projects in the Greater South East region, including in Huntingdon.

The Common Understanding between the European Commission and the United Kingdom, agreed at the UK-EU Summit on 19 May 2025, sets out the progress made on strengthening connections to the EU energy market. Both sides have committed to exploring the UK’s potential participation in the EU’s internal electricity market, including access to trading platforms across all timeframes. Discussions are ongoing to define the parameters of such an arrangement. The UK and European Commission also agreed to continue technical regulatory exchanges on new energy technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and biomethane.

The Warm Home Discount is available for homes off the gas grid, as it is an electricity bill discount, not tied to gas supply.

The previous Minister for Energy Consumers had discussions with industry, local government and devolved governments in the development of the Warm Homes Plan.

As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the government committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1 billion of this allocated to 2025/2026.

The department has also launched the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) to support social housing providers and tenants in England, and the Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) to support low-income homeowners and private tenants in England. Further detail on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in October.

Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) provides the UK with a flexible source of gas supply to meet gas demand – helping respond when demand peaks, for example over winter when gas demand rises for home heating.

However, we are aware of the emissions associated with its use and we are working with international partners to explore ways to minimise methane and CO2 emissions across the LNG supply chain. This includes considering enhanced measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions to improve accountability and progress toward lower-emission LNG production and transport.

The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) recommendations are independent advice, not government policy. The Government is considering the CCC’s advice and will set the CB7 level by 30th June 2026.

Alongside reporting the UK’s territorial emissions, the Government publishes UK carbon footprint statistics, which includes imported emissions. In July 2025, we announced the Production and Consumption Transformation (PACT) Centre. PACT will conduct independent world class research to expand the evidence base on production and consumption, providing actionable insights on energy and material efficiency solutions, including assessing imported emissions. This will support effective analysis and policy making in this field.

Natural gas is used as an input for Power CCUS and CCUS-enabled hydrogen production. However, the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan (23 June 2025) did not include a specific estimate of imported LNG emissions for CCUS. We are clear that future emissions from the production of natural gas will need to reduce in the UK and across the world and we are working with the US, EU and others to develop a framework to better measure, monitor, and report methane emissions from imported gas.

Between the 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025 the department lost 18,203 days to sickness absence. The average days lost per employee was 3.9.

The Climate Change Act (2008) made the UK the first country to introduce a legally binding, long-term emissions reduction target. This sets our commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 in law. The UK has already halved its emissions, having cut them by around 53% between 1990 and 2023, while growing the economy by over 80% in the same period.

We will deliver an updated plan that sets out the policy package out to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037 for all sectors of the economy by October 2025. The Climate Change Committee published its 2025 progress report in June, and we will also formally respond to this report by October 2025.

Modern slavery is a serious human rights violation depriving individuals of their freedom and dignity while inflicting immeasurable harm on families, communities, and society as-a-whole. DESNZ is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery, holding perpetrators to account, and ensuring that victims are supported to recover and rebuild their lives.

The Government will continue to assess and monitor the effectiveness of new policy tools that are emerging to ensure we can effectively tackle forced labour in supply chains. Government’s Responsible Business Conduct Review will be a primary lever for delivering this as a cross-departmental endeavour to review and address UK’s policy regime and voluntary due diligence requirements for forced labour. Additionally, the Industrial Strategy Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan committed to embedding ethical supply chain standards into DESNZ public spend; and Great British Energy confirmed it will follow strict ethical standards to help ensure solar supply chains are free from exploitation.

The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy with less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.

The Government wants to provide businesses with better protection from being locked into unfair and expensive energy contracts, and more redress when they have a complaint. Last year, the Government launched a consultation on introducing regulation of Third-Party Intermediaries (TPIs), such as energy brokers. This is aimed at enhancing consumer protections, particularly for non-domestic consumers.

The consultation has now closed, and a Government response will follow in due course once all feedback has been reviewed. The Government recently published a summary of responses to the consultation which set out that we government continues to believe that the current regulations aren’t sufficient and we remain minded to directly regulate this market when parliamentary time allows.

From 19 December 2024 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 50 employees can now access free support to resolve issues with their energy supplier through the Energy Ombudsman. This means that 99% of British businesses can now access this service with outcomes ranging up to £20,000 in financial awards.

The Government recognises that most landlords strive to provide decent homes, which is why we are proposing stronger standards for the entire sector, to make sure they are not undercut by those providing substandard properties. Around half of properties already meet the current standard of EPC C.

Support is currently available to private landlords to improve their properties through a range of schemes, including the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers £7,500 off the cost of a heat pump, as well as the Warm Homes: Local Grant which launched this year. We are also exploring the role the finance sector may play in scaling up and mobilising low-cost lending.

The Government knows that more needs to be done to support vulnerable households struggling with their energy bills. That's why we are expanding the Warm Home Discount to around an additional 2.7 million households. This means that from this winter, around 6 million low-income households will receive the £150 support to help with their energy bill costs. The Warm Home Discount regulations expire in 2026, and we will want to consider all options for future bill support beyond this point.

I have been clear with suppliers that they should do all that they can to support their customers – including vulnerable consumers – who may be struggling with their bills. I would urge any consumers who are struggling to pay their bills to speak to their supplier, local authority, or Citizens Advice who may be able to provide help and support. Your constituent can also visit the GOV.UK website, where extra cost-of-living support can be found - www.gov.uk/cost-of-living.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024. Influencers can be effective in reaching audiences that the Government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.

The number of employees who have declared they are disabled as of 31 August 2025 in the department is 535.

We have made an excellent start delivering our Clean Energy Superpower Mission. We are bearing down on energy bills and identifying options to lower energy costs. We have secured over £50 billion of private investment in clean energy, backed the next generation of nuclear power with £14.2 billion of funding for Sizewell, and invested in a £1 billion supply chain fund under Great British Energy to unlock investment in offshore wind jobs and our clean energy supply chains. Industry stakeholders have acknowledged and welcomed the acceleration in our ambition and progress we're making to deliver our objectives. We recognise there is much work to do, and our long-term plan will take time, requiring extensive engagement across all sectors of our society. But we won’t be deterred by the scale of the task, and this Government will not waste a moment delivering it.

In the recent Onshore Wind Taskforce Strategy, the government committed to publishing a consultation on whether the existing permitted development rights are fit for purpose and if they could support other forms of small-scale onshore wind deployment. The Department is currently conducting stakeholder engagement to prepare for this consultation. As part of this, some stakeholders have expressed interest raising the height limit for a permitted development onshore wind turbine to 30 metres, alongside other suggestions, conditions and limits. The Government will consider all options carefully ahead of consultation.

The then Minister for Energy Consumers (Miatta Fahnbulleh) had discussions with industry, local government and devolved governments in the development of the Warm Homes Plan.

Boat dwellers will not qualify for government energy efficiency schemes as a valid domestic Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating is required to access this support. The Reduced data Standard Assessment Procedure (RdSAP) method does not support the creation of domestic EPCs for houseboats.

However, the Warm Homes Plan will help households, including off-gas grid rural households, take up measures like solar panels, heat pumps, batteries and insulation, helping them save money on their bills and benefit from cleaner, cheaper heating.

The Department will receive independently verified annual gas and oil boiler sales data from scheme participants after the completion of each scheme year via the scheme’s administrator, the Environment Agency. Further detail on these reporting processes can be found in the published scheme guidance. It also has access to heat pump installations data from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme and publishes statistics on Government-supported installations at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/heat-pump-deployment-statistics.

The Department is considering the options to publish some Clean Heat Market Mechanism scheme data, for example aggregated annual verified sales and installation data, but needs to assess commercial sensitivities in doing so.