Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of including in the Future Homes Standard a requirement for monitoring post-occupancy the compliance of work with building regulations.

The Government has committed to introduce a Future Homes Standard by 2025. This means new homes will be future proofed, with low carbon heating and lower energy use through high levels of energy efficiency. We propose that new homes built to the Future Homes Standard from 2025 should have carbon dioxide emissions up to 80 per cent lower than those built to current building regulations standards.

We are currently consulting on a meaningful and achievable increase to the energy efficiency standards for new homes to be introduced through the Building Regulations in 2020, as a stepping stone to this commitment. The preferred option is to set a standard that should result in a 31 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions. The consultation is open until 7 February and we welcome further evidence.

• Our consultation includes estimates as described above, and also includes a ‘roadmap’ that provides an indicative vision of how the 2025 standards will be achieved. We will undertake further modelling and analysis as we prepare the detail of the changes that will be needed in 2025.
• We are consulting on proposed minimum standards for carbon dioxide emissions, primary energy use, and building fabric. We will issue a response to the consultation later this year after analysing responses received.
• Requiring householders to disclose the energy use of their homes once occupied sits outside the scope of the Building Regulations and its enforcement regime. We have not proposed a post-occupancy monitoring system as part of the Future Homes Standard consultation.
• To consider embodied carbon at a building-level would require a standardised method of calculation supported by a robust evidence base and underpinned by widely adopted product standards. There is currently no widely agreed standardised method for certifying the embodied carbon of building products, so it was not included the Future Homes Standard consultation.
• The Future Homes Standard consultation is considering local planning authority powers in respect of energy efficiency. We will issue a response to the consultation later this year after analysing responses received.