Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 30
30
Accepted
Consumer protection and quality assurance system for ECO4 and GBIS is overly complex.
Recommendation
The National Audit Office’s report considered by the Committee concluded that ECO4 and GBIS combined with the consumer protection and quality assurance system resulted in an overly complex system, with many different actors. It reported that nobody spoken to during its investigation could give a comprehensive explanation of how the system was meant to work, and that there was no central document clearly setting out how the system should operate across the different organisations and processes.66 In their written evidence submissions to us, Severn Wye Energy Agency, Fuel Poverty Action, Kingspan Insulation Ltd and UKAS identified this fragmentation and complexity as a contributing factor to the high level of faulty installations, as well as the difficulty people subsequently face in getting the defects fixed.67 UKAS described a “multi-tiered system” comprising “the accreditation; we accredit the certification bodies. 63 Qq 55, 116 64 C&AG’s Report, para 1.8 65 C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 and Figure 5 66 C&AG’s Report, para 3.8 67 FEE0003, FEE0025, FEE0010, FEE0022 19 The certification bodies then certify the installers. Those certification bodies are also TrustMark scheme providers. Then there is the installer and the retrofit co-ordinator—[ … ]” which “can work if there is a shared understanding of the mission and the risk that relates to it”.68
Government Response Summary
The Department will publish an annual report to Parliament on retrofit schemes, with the first publication before Autumn 2027. This will be included in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5. PAC conclusion: The Department’s system of quality assurance and consumer protection was far too complicated, and organisations within it focused too much on their own tasks rather than whether the system was protecting consumers. 5. PAC recommendation: The Department should publish an annual report to Parliament on all its retrofit schemes, their level of non-compliance and estimated fraud, and whether the schemes are working as intended. 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2027 5.2 The department will publish an annual report to Parliament on retrofit schemes, with the first publication before Autumn 2027. To align with the National Audit Office recommendation, this will be included in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts. The department’s Annual Report and Accounts sets out DESNZ’s approach to managing fraud and error, including counter-fraud governance and capability, risk management across major schemes. 5.3 The department has assessed the quality assurance processes in use across retrofit schemes to establish which quality metrics are currently being measured and how frequently. Based on the lessons learned from ECO4 and GBIS, the department intends to establish a standard methodology for measuring and reporting on error and fraud, which will be used for all new schemes. Where it is feasible and represents value for money to do so, the department will assess existing retrofit schemes against this methodology.