Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Deferred
DESNZ invests in heat pump installer training, but sustained long-term commitment is essential.
Conclusion
DESNZ said that training new installers was a “growing industry”. It stated that it was investing £29 million from 2021–22 to 2024–25 to train installers in the heat sector. Part of this spend includes a £5 million Heat Training Grant to support up to 10,000 heat pump and heat network training opportunities from 2023–24 to 2024–25. DESNZ reported that it was on track towards meeting its target to reach 12,000 trained heat pump installers by 2025, and that it had trained 7,000 installers so far, including 3,000 as part of the Heat Training Grant. DESNZ recognised that it will need to continue to invest in heat pump training and expand training opportunities to reach the number of installers needed in later years. It told us that decisions for future training grants would form part of the next spending review.33 The MCS Foundation, which supports education in the heat sector, told us that it was key that the government continue to support the development of the heat pump supply chain, which included training installers by providing long-term clarity and certainty.34
Government Response Summary
The government agrees but defers decisions on future training support beyond April 2025 to Spending Review 2025. It acknowledges the need for more installers, highlights ongoing work like apprenticeship updates and establishing the Office for Clean Energy Jobs, and will work with industry.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2025 (Following phase 2 of Spending Review) 3.2 The government recognises that the number of heat pump installers will need to continue to increase rapidly beyond 2025 and will work closely with industry to ensure that sufficient installers are available to install heat pumps. The Heat Training Grant is the main form of government support currently available to upskill the existing heating engineer workforce and will provide around 10,000 opportunities for heat pump and heat network professionals. While this scheme is funded until April 2025, decisions on future training support will form part of Spending Review 2025 (SR25). 3.3 In addition, the apprenticeship framework for heating and plumbing was recently updated to ensure it offers the right skills to deliver Net Zero and launched a new Low Carbon Heating Technician apprenticeship in Autumn 2023. This will help bring new entrants into the sector and build a sustainable skills pipeline. The government will continue to work with industry to promote awareness and uptake of this apprenticeship and explore the most effective ways to grow and diversify the installer workforce. 3.4 The Regional Skills Pilots is a £3.5 million investment in the retrofit skills supply chain across the English regions. The pilots support the five local net zero hubs to work with local delivery partners to identify and test solutions to regional challenges. As part of the pilots, over £600,000 will directly support local heat pump supply chains. Other actions include supporting further education colleges to invest in new low carbon skills training facilities and upskill teaching staff to build capacity and capability in the system. Further support for skills pilots will be subject to decisions taken at SR25. 3.5 The department has set up the Office for Clean Energy Jobs, which will support tackling workforce and skills challenges in core energy and net zero sectors, critical to meeting our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower. The Office will work with the Department for Education and support the newly established Skills England to ensure we have the skills we need to deliver the Mission, forming a view across the department to feed into Skills England’s wider assessment of the UK economy’s structural skills needs, and supporting with targeted delivery of specific policy solutions in the energy sector.