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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing low-income households with subsidised heat pumps in order to (a) protect poorer households in the run up to winter and (b) kickstart the low-carbon heating market.

The Government has published its comprehensive Heat and Buildings Strategy, with major new plans to lower the cost of low-carbon heating technology, like heat pumps, to ensure they are no more expensive to buy and run than fossil-fuel boilers. The strategy aims to promote growth and levelling up through supporting 175,000 green skilled jobs by 2030 and 240,000 by 2035.

New grants of £5,000 will be available from April next year to encourage homeowners to install more efficient, low-carbon heating systems – like heat pumps – through a £450 million three-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Home Upgrade Grant, Energy Company Obligation and Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery schemes all support the installation of heat pumps for social housing tenants and lower-income homeowners and private tenants. These schemes also support other energy-efficiency measures such as insulation and heating controls to ensure homes are easier to heat and waste less energy.