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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 19 October (HL8705), how many schemes have been set up for training Green Homes Grant skills; where in the UK such schemes are located; what the capacity to deliver such training is in each region of the UK; what academic level the training is; and how many students have (1) enrolled in, and (2) completed, the training.

The Department launched a £6.9m skills competition to provide training opportunities for energy efficiency and low carbon heating supply chains, to deliver works and scale up to meet additional consumer demand. This could deliver up to 5,000 training opportunities in support of the scheme, dependent on how the funding is allocated. The competition recently closed, and the bids are being assessed. The Department received bids from all regions in England (Midlands, North East, Yorkshire & Humber, North West, South East, South West) and for all work packages. Training will commence once successful applicants have been informed.

Funding will be provided to support training individuals with existing skills and those new to the sector, along with support for installation companies to gain PAS 2030 or MCS accreditation as required by the Green Homes Grant scheme. Training courses will be carried out against the following specific technology standards – National Occupational Standards (NOS), PAS 2030: 2017, 2019 or MCS standards or higher. The work packages within the competition cover retrofit assessor and retrofit coordinator, insulation, non-insulation fabric measures, heat pumps & solar thermal; heating and hot water controls.