Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
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)
In the 2021 Heat and Buildings strategy, DESNZ committed to developing the evidence base necessary to take strategic decisions on the role of hydrogen for heating buildings in 2026. It also committed to establishing large-scale trials of hydrogen for heating, including: a neighbourhood trial by 2023, a village scale trial by 2025; and developing plans by 2025 for a possible hydrogen town that can be converted by the end of the decade.51 Major trials intended to support decisions on hydrogen for heating have, however, been cancelled or delayed. We noted that two hydrogen village trials had been abandoned. DESNZ announced in July 2023 that it was no longer proceeding with supporting a village trial in Whitby, originally planned for 2025, owing to residents’ reluctance to change their heating systems. In December 2023, DESNZ announced that it would also not proceed with the other proposed village trial site in Redcar, because the necessary local hydrogen supply would not be available. A gas distribution company plans to start a neighbourhood trial, originally planned for 2023, in 2024 with around 300 interested participants in domestic properties in Fife.52
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.