In 2021, the Public Accounts Committee found that the flagship
Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme had delivered only about 47,500
home energy upgrades out of 600,000 originally envisaged. The
project accounted for just £314 million of its original £1.5
billion budget, and £50 million of that was administration costs
- more than £1,000 per home upgraded.
The Scheme delivered a small fraction of the jobs it was expected
to: the inquiry heard it could take 48 months to train the
specialists required to implement key parts of the home-greening
plans.
The ESNZ Committee before the General Election heard across all
the inquiries it conducted about the difficulties resourcing work
across the energy sector: from installing cleaner home heating to
building infrastructure, from working in the new North Sea
renewables industry to planning commercial and office
space.
Today the newly appointed Energy
Security and Net Zero Committee is launching an inquiry on
how to build the workforce that is needed to deliver the policies
and infrastructure for the UK's clean, secure energy
mission.
This inquiry aims to:
- Explore the difficulties in
recruiting and retraining the workforce to deliver a clean energy
sector and retrofit homes and businesses;
- Assess how the new Office for Clean
Energy jobs can contribute to workforce planning;
- Gain an understanding of the
specific role of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
in delivering clean energy jobs;
The Committee is now inviting evidence from individuals
and organisations on any or all of the following
questions:
- Does the Government have an
appropriate understanding of the skill needs to deliver the Clean
Energy Mission by 2030 as well as decarbonise homes and
businesses?
- To what extent can the Clean Energy
Mission and the retrofitting of homes and businesses be carried
out by the existing workforce, and to what extent will it require
new entrants to the workforce?
- How might the Government ensure
that the job market in clean energy roles is sustainable enough
to incentivise private sector investment in training for 2030 and
beyond?
- How can the new Office for Clean
Energy jobs contribute to workforce planning in the energy
sector?
- What more can the Department for
Energy Security and Net Zero do to ensure the workforce is in
place to deliver the Clean Energy Mission and accelerate the
retrofitting of homes and businesses?
Anyone with evidence on these questions can find more information
and submit it here by
Monday 13 January 2025
