Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
Thirty-Seventh Report - Decarbonising home heating
Published 26 May 2024
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Decarbonising home heating All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Households can face a range of decisions when looking to install a heat pump. One such decision is whether to improve insulation to reduce energy usage and emissions. At the time of our evidence session, households were required to meet recommendations relating to cavity wall and loft insultation, identified in the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), in order to qualify for a grant as part of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. DESNZ told us that it would be removing this requirement in May 2024, which duly happened on 8 May. It told us that this was to address the issue of people being put off from applying to the Scheme by having to make improvements to their insulation and having to sequence the work, and to make the customer journey as simple as possible.24 We received written evidence from Octopus Energy, which explained that it welcomed the removal of the requirement for outstanding cavity wall and loft insulations in the EPC. It urged DESNZ to simplify the process further and remove the requirement for an EPC, which it told us were not required before installing gas boilers and added extra costs and delays to customers looking to replace their boiler with a heat pump.25
From: Public Accounts Committee, Thirty-Seventh Report - Decarbonising home heating (HC 653), 26 May 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 11 July 2025 (deadline 26 July 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on decarbonising home heating, some with target dates still "to be confirmed", and disagrees with one, on gas network decommissioning.
- On heat pump running costs, the government agrees with the recommendation, but implementation is "dependent on further steers from new ministers" and no date is set. It says it "is considering" the best way to bring costs down.
- On installer numbers, the government agrees, with a target of Summer 2025. It says decisions on future training support "will form part of Spending Review 2025 (SR25)", as the Heat Training Grant is funded until April 2025.
- On data, the government agrees to publish quarterly data on retrofit installations using government funding, with a target of Winter 2024. It "cannot commit" to publishing data on new builds or unfunded installations "until a suitable mechanism is found".
- The government disagrees with the recommendation to set out gas network decommissioning arrangements by end-June 2025, saying a full assessment "will require more time". It says it is "currently exploring ways" to facilitate the transition.