Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Evans Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

6. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

12. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

13. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gregory Barker]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right; I did anticipate around 10,000. The number of people taking up finance so far has been significantly lower—about 1,200 as of last month. However, the extraordinary thing is that over 100,000 homes have had green deal assessments, and the compelling response has been that over 80% of the people who have had a green deal assessment are installing measures. If consumers like the green deal and the products and if they are installing the measures, the fact that they are not yet using the finance does not worry me. I am delighted that over 100,000 green deal measures are being installed in people’s homes. It is fantastic news.

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

Joyner PA in my constituency has been providing wall insulation to people in Islwyn for over 30 years, making homes energy-efficient. When I visited the company last Friday, I was told that applying for Government green schemes is slow and bureaucratic. What are the Government doing to address that?

[Gregory Barker]

I am not sure which particular schemes the hon. Gentleman is referring to, but if he would like to write to me, I would be happy to address his queries or concerns in detail. I take on board what he says about bureaucracy. That is why we have got rid of the community energy saving programme, which we inherited from the previous Government and which was incredibly bureaucratic. That is why we are looking to make the energy company obligation and the green deal less bureaucratic and as easy to understand for the consumer as possible. We will continue to iterate both schemes to make them as consumer-friendly as possible.