Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the report by the East of England APPG and Local Government East entitled, Opportunity East: One Year On, published in November 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of East of England to clean energy generation.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the East of England’s contribution to clean energy generation and the Clean Power 2030 mission. It is the home of Sizewell C. The region has also secured the highest offshore wind capacity allocation in AR7, with just over 6GW, driven by the large-scale Dogger Bank South and Norfolk Vanguard developments, building on an existing 3.7GW of offshore wind capacity.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the average cost for retrofitting a single house under the Whole House Retrofit and the Social Housing decarbonisation Fund (a) as budgeted for in the original awarding of the grants and (b) in completed projects.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Demonstrator builds on the Whole House Retrofit programme to test innovative approaches to retrofitting at scale. SHDF awarded around £179m of Government funding under Wave 1 to improve the energy performance of up to 20,000 social homes, and £778 million of Government funding to see proposed energy performance improvements to around 90,000 social homes under Wave 2.1.
SHDF cost cap policy shows the maximum grant funding permitted for capital costs for retrofit works by starting characteristic of homes, based on the average cost per home. It is available in Section 2.10.2 of the Wave 1 guidance (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1016303/shdf-wave-1-competition-guidance.pdf) and Section 2.11 of the Wave 2.1 guidance (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1114571/shdf-wave-2.1-competition-guidance.pdf).
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of lead times for connecting renewable energy projects to the grid.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
Years of world-leading green investment has meant we have connected the second highest amount of renewable electricity in Europe since 2010. This has put pressure on the electricity network and reducing connection timescales is a high priority for Government.