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Lord Whitty (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 27 January 2026

Debate

Warm Homes Plan

Contribution

My Lords, I put on record my profound support for this very significant commitment, which meets not only the fuel poverty objectives but the environmental and economic objectives in developing our energy policy. The Minister may dimly recall that many years ago I was the Minister who brought in and developed the Warm Front programme, which was so tragically cut off in 2010. In parallel to the information to consumers—and in particular to the least well-off consumers—about their options on insulation and heating, there needs to be a commitment to an effective employment policy, because a lot of new skills are going to be needed. To ensure quality control, we need to ensure that those who are working for the installers under the authority of the warm homes agency are effectively trained and that there is a forward plan for them. At the moment we do not have adequately skilled people on the ground, and a lot of those who are there are getting on a bit. So a new, significant programme of training and retraining is going to be needed in parallel with this commitment, which in general is a fantastic one. I congratulate the department on it.

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