Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 30
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In response to a question about how DESNZ had got so far with the trial at Redcar before realising that the supply of hydrogen needed was not available, DESNZ said that it was not solely reliant on the outcomes from the cancelled village trials, although the trials were “important”. It considered that “there were other sources and ways of getting the evidence that we needed in order to make decisions around the role of hydrogen”.55 We asked DESNZ what evidence it would use to make a decision and whether it still expected to be in a position to make a decision by 2026 given the delays and cancellations of hydrogen trials. DESNZ told us that it was still working towards being able to make a strategic decision in 2026. It explained that it was drawing on other sources of evidence, such as a trial to use hydrogen for home heating across a neighbourhood in Fife, alongside trials in other countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany. In addition, it explained that it was working with the Health and Safety Executive to develop an evidence base around the safety and appropriateness of hydrogen to inform its 2026 decision.56 Written evidence from Hydrogen UK, however, highlighted that the cancellation of the village trials had “adversely” affected the collection of data needed to evaluate hydrogen for heating.57 We noted that the neighbourhood trial was exclusively testing supply to the domestic market, but by 2026 there would not have been a live trial of hydrogen supply to non-domestic properties.58
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.