Boris Johnson has been pressed to further extend the Green Homes Grant (GHG) by the chair of the House of Commons environment audit committee, who has claimed that delays issuing the scheme’s vouchers are leading energy efficiency installers to cut jobs.
At a meeting on Wednesday (13 January) of the Liaison Committee, which brings together the chairs of the Commons select committees about once every six months to grill the prime minister, Philip Dunne outlined the problems bedevilling the home decarbonisation scheme.
“The tragedy is that the short-term nature of this scheme means, regrettably, that it is having precisely the opposite effect to what was intended, with firms of builders and installers informing my committee that it has led to them laying off staff.”
He said one “award-winning” company has lost a full order book, which it had before the grant scheme was announced, after failing to be issued with a single voucher.
“They have lost every order they had and have laid off three of their installation teams, which take years to train. Another one had 48 applications; only five were approved in three months and they are also firing people.”
Dunne pressed the PM to use the upcoming Budget to “sort out” the GHG scheme, which has already been extended beyond its original deadline in March, so that it provides “longer term security” for supply chain companies.
“The 12-month extension is helpful, but it is nothing like enough for companies to invest in staff.”
Responding to Dunne’s concerns, Johnson said the government will “do its best” to address any failings in the GHG scheme.
He said: “The green jobs opportunity from retrofitting is potentially huge. You have to ensure that the schemes that are being sold and the greening of homes that people are buying actually works and delivers for them the saving that they are promised.
“Sadly, not all of these retrofitting schemes and installation schemes have been ideal for the consumer. Some of them have been brilliant, but you have to ensure that they really work. We will certainly be doing that.”
Johnson also told the committee that he is “increasingly obsessed” with the green agenda.
After being urged by BEIS select committee chair Darren Jones to throw an “Olympic -style energy” into November’s COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow, the PM said: “The green agenda and the whole green industrial revolution is not just a load of green nonsense, as people sometimes seem to suggest, with extra costs for businesses and for families. If you do it right, it is the opportunity to generate hundreds of thousands of jobs for this country.”
He also said the government is looking at running a fringe conference alongside COP26 to provide a forum in Glasgow for green non-governmental groups.
He said: “I see no reason why there shouldn’t be a real festival of ideas in the run-up to COP.”
Johnson appeared on the same day that shadow chancellor of the exchequer Anneliese Dodds said that a future Labour government’s spending plans would be tested to ensure that they contribute to meeting net zero.
She said: “Alongside appropriately ambitious investment and robust carbon budgeting, this ‘green pen’ would ensure our country stopped ducking the hard decisions.”