3. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Improving the Energy Efficiency of Welsh Homes

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:09 pm on 8 November 2022.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 3:09, 8 November 2022

I just have two questions, as chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty and energy efficiency, which have come from the group. We heard reference earlier to the Equality and Social Justice Committee inquiry into fuel poverty and the Warm Homes programme, and recommendations for the Welsh Government to ensure that the programme embeds the fabric and worst-first approach to retrofitting, as well as targeting the poorest households and the least efficient homes, being bigger in scale and greener in interventions, allowing for multiple measures to be installed. In your previous responses, you have, I think, addressed some of those points, but how in particular will you ensure that the programme embeds the fabric and worst-first approach in the least efficient homes?

Secondly, as we've also heard, Wales has some of the oldest and least thermally efficient housing stock compared to the UK and Europe. Free energy efficiency measures are being rejected by many people, as they're seen as inflexible and incompatible with the buildings they reside in. You've already explained in part how you will tailor energy efficiency measures to adapt to the various different types of buildings that exist in Wales, but specifically, given likely delays to the next iteration of the Warm Homes programme, what consideration has the Welsh Government given to enabling the current Nest scheme to make more appropriate fabric improvements to insulate qualifying fuel-poor homes, whilst also supporting them to replace inefficient heating systems in light of the closure of Arbed and the anticipated increase in Nest's budget?