Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated to home insulation and retrofit measures in each financial year since 2019.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government provides funding for home insulation and retrofit measures through the Home Upgrade Grant, Green Homes Grant – Local Authority Delivery, Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and previously the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme. The most recent allocations for these schemes is attached.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to reallocate remaining funds from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in a way that allows local authorities to increase the (a) reach and (b) uptake of the scheme across all communities by 2030.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The 2019 Conservative Manifesto committed to a £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) over a 10-year period to improve the energy performance of social homes. Grant funding allocated to SHDF has totalled over £1bn.
In the Autumn Statement, the Government announced £6 billion of new Government funding that will be made available from 2025 to 2028 for energy efficiency. The design of future waves of the SHDF will consider all relevant evidence to ensure effective delivery.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of allocating additional funding to retrofitting social housing stock; and if he will support local authorities in accelerating those measures.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Demonstrator project awarded around £62m of grant funding to Local Authorities in 2021. The Government launched Wave 1 of the SHDF in 2021 and awarded around £179m of grant funding to Local Authorities for delivery from 2022 into 2023. The Wave 2.1 competition, which closed in November 2022, will look to allocate up to £800m of grant funding to Social Housing Landlords, including Local Authorities, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023. The significant investment of Wave 2.1 provides the opportunity for delivery at scale.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the potential impact of trends in the level of energy bills on commercial enterprises in winter 2023-24.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A new Energy Bill Discount Scheme has been announced from April 2023 meaning that all eligible businesses, charities and the public sector will receive a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024. The scheme will provide a discount on high energy costs to give businesses certainty while limiting taxpayers’ exposure to volatile energy markets through the use of a wholesale price threshold and maximum discount.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help local authorities in achieving the Government’s net zero targets.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Net Zero Strategy sets out our commitments to enable local areas to deliver net zero.
This includes establishing a Local Net Zero Forum to bring together national and local government senior officials on a regular basis to discuss policy and delivery options on net zero; running the Local Net Zero Hubs Programme to support all local areas with their capability and capacity to meet net zero; and funding work to develop business models to increase private sector investment in local net zero.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with representatives from the Local Government Association on accelerating the rollout of onshore wind and solar energy.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the role that local government plays in realising the UK's net zero carbon ambitions for onshore wind and solar.
Through the Local Net Zero Forum, BEIS regularly engages with representatives from local authority organisations on net zero policy and delivery issues.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of their Department’s employees work from home at least one day a week.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Over the past two years, the Civil Service as a whole has had to work in a more agile way whilst still delivering essential public services. Before the pandemic, most departments worked on a basis of a ratio of desks to staff and that remains the case – so hybrid working arrangements are not new. No office will operate at 100% occupancy given there will always be a number of reasons why staff may be out of the office, for example people being on annual leave, attending meetings off site or external visits. Data on the Department’s occupancy are published: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-headquarters-occupancy-data.
Like most departments, in line with the practice in many public and private sector organisations, BEIS operates hybrid working arrangements where employees are expected to attend the office for at least 40%-60% of their time.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to ensure that families of seriously ill children who rely on life-saving equipment at home are included on energy suppliers’ priority services registers.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Electricity network operators are obliged to maintain a Priority Services Register to ensure support is given to the most vulnerable customers during power disruptions. Customers who would be vulnerable during a power cut, such as children who are medically dependent on electricity, should be signed up for the Priority Services Register directly with their Energy Supplier or Distribution Network Operator. Those who require a continuous supply of electricity for medical reasons and would need medical support during a power cut, should seek advice from their medical equipment provider and local health service provider.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to prioritise children’s hospice and palliative care providers for targeted financial support when the non-domestic Energy Bill Relief Scheme ends in March 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
HM Treasury is currently conducting a review of the EBRS and evidence from care providers is included. However, the Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the end of the review, which will be reported by the end of the year 2022.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of redeploying social housing energy efficiency funding to local authorities.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator project, launched in 2020, awarded around £62m of grant funding to Local Authorities in 2021. The Government launched Wave 1 of the SHDF in 2021 and awarded around £179m of grant funding to Local Authorities for delivery from 2022 into 2023. The Wave 2.1 competition, which closed in November 2022, will look to allocate up to £800m of grant funding to Social Housing Landlords, including Local Authorities, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.