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 Fourth Special Report of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee of Session 2024-26 on Tackling the energy crisis: Government Response, HC1624, published on 21 January 2026, whether he has assessed the potential merits of integrating household level (a) welfare and (b) income data into the National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework database.

The National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework (NEED) includes data on modelled household income. The department publishes annual estimates of electricity and gas consumption by household income band. The department continues to assess the availability of additional data that could be utilised as part of the NEED statistics, and is working closely with other government departments to test how public sector data can be better joined up to improve access to government programmes.