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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many energy champions have been funded in each region of the UK.

The Department provides around £1m funding a year for the Big Energy Saving Network. This is a joint programme, run with National Energy Action, to fund and train energy champions from third sector organisations and community groups who help vulnerable energy consumers in Great Britain switch and save money on their energy bills.

Energy champions are appointed following a rigorous assessment process. We also consider the geographic spread of grants to be awarded to ensure that we have champions across all regions of Great Britain. The Department has just launched the application process for funding this winter - the number of energy champions funded in each region of GB in 2016/17 was: