Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 6
Fifth Report - Heat resilience and sustainable cooling
Published 31 Jan 2024
Paragraph 54
Environmental Audit Committee Heat resilience and sustainable cooling All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We support the extension of Part O of the Building Regulations not only to cover material changes of use to residential, but also for refurbishments of existing properties. We recommend that the Government clarify whether it is intended that Part O of the Building Regulations be expanded to refurbishments. If that is indeed the case, we recommend that Ministers, in their response to this report, set out when, and by what mechanism, this is to be achieved. If it is not the case, we recommend that Ministers explain how the UK is to achieve Commitment M5 of the Global Cooling Pledge.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Fifth Report - Heat resilience and sustainable cooling (HC 279), paragraph 54, 31 January 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 30 April 2024 (deadline 31 March 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and sets out its position recommendation by recommendation, declining to mandate use of the Green Infrastructure Framework, to name heatwaves or to run a public information campaign targeting the general public, while pointing to existing measures and consultations.
- On green space, the government "has not chosen to mandate" the Green Infrastructure Framework "at this time", saying it is important to allow local authorities "the space to develop their own policies".
- On heatwave naming, the government says there is "insufficient evidence that naming of heatwaves is effective and there are no plans to introduce heatwave naming"; the Met Office "will keep this under review as research in this area develops".
- On the public information campaign, it says "it is not clear that a public information campaign targeting the general public would be effective" relative to a differentiated approach for those most at risk.
- On a national cooling action plan, it will develop a "cooling outlook document" and is "working to publish" it before the 2026 target date, anticipating publication "in the early part of the next parliament".