Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to invest in carbon neutral, climate resilient social homes.

Retrofitting insulation and low carbon heat in social homes is a crucial step in achieving our commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and will contribute towards our Carbon Budget targets and our legally binding fuel poverty targets.

The Government's Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator has awarded £61 million to 18 local authority-led projects across England and Scotland, covering over 2,100 social homes, to test innovative approaches to retrofitting at scale. Beyond these projects up to £160 million total funding will be allocated for the first wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund programme in 2021/22. This funding supports the government's commitment to invest in the energy performance of homes.

In the Heat and Buildings Strategy and Net Zero Strategy, launched 19 October 2021, it was announced that a further £800 million has been committed for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund as part of the 2021 Spending Review process.

From 2025, the Future Homes Standard will ensure that new homes produce at least 75% fewer CO2 emissions than those built to current standards.