Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)

My Lords, I was privileged to be by the side of my noble friend when we had that very interesting Question, because of course, although she answered it, the future homes standard very much concerns my department as well, which is why we are working so closely together. I think that she said that not only is the skills issue very much on her agenda but that her department is working closely with the Department for Education. Of course, my department has a huge vested interest in ensuring that we deal with any skills shortages. We are very focused on the supply chain. We are supporting the sector to obtain necessary qualifications to work in government schemes through our skills competition and exploring measures to ensure that installers are getting the right skills and experience to carry out high-quality installation. Clearly, this is one issue that must arise from what has happened: why installers do not seem to be able to do the right thing. There is much that we are going to work on, but I would say on the positive side that if ever one wanted to make a connection between the growth agenda and the charge to net zero, this is it. A huge number of skilled jobs will be there to be filled in future. Our job in government is to facilitate the training and development that need to take place to respond to that challenge.