Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Not Addressed
Department acknowledges current quality assurance system is too layered and fragmented.
Conclusion
The Department told us it designed the consumer protection and quality assurance system in response to the 2016 Each Home Counts review, introducing a single quality mark (delivered by TrustMark) and higher standards that consider multi-measure retrofits in the context of the whole home.69 It told us that the new system worked “alongside and with the grain” of the UK’s existing, decentralised model of standards that relied on the private sector.70 However, the Department accepted that the system was “too layered, fragmented and complicated and has not provided the protection that consumers deserve”.71
Government Response Summary
The response addresses a different recommendation, regarding an annual report on retrofit schemes, and not the conclusion about the complex consumer protection and quality assurance system.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
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.