Correspondence: Letters from DESNZ and DLUHC
Draft Energy Bills Discount Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2024
30.We commented on these draft Regulations in our 15th Report.11 They would enable the setting of an end date for applications to one of the energy bill support schemes which is aimed specifically at domestic customers of heat networks. This is to avoid the Government having a legal obligation to process applications indefinitely.
31.Our comment highlighted that because not all heat networks have applied for the support available, up to 60,000 domestic customers may be losing out on discounts of up to £1,200. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said that the losses would disproportionately affect disadvantaged groups - namely the elderly and ethnic minorities - who are significantly more likely to be on a heat network.
32.While the Department had given us information about the work it is doing to encourage heat networks to apply for support and to reach these disadvantaged groups, we wrote to the Minister, Amanda Solloway MP, to seek further assurance that every effort is being made to ensure that as many customers as possible receive the support to which they are entitled. The Minister’s response, published in Appendix 1, sets out the additional activities undertaken by the Department to maximise the number of applications. We welcome the particular focus on social housing providers, which are likely to have more vulnerable domestic customers, and note the Department’s view that the actual number of customers missing out on support is likely to be lower than 60,000.
Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2024 (SI 2024/141)
33.We drew this Order to the special attention of the House in our 15th Report12 on the ground that the explanatory material laid in support provided insufficient information to gain a clear understanding about the instrument’s policy objective and intended implementation. The Order makes it easier to convert the use of a building from commercial to residential use without planning permission. This is achieved by removing a floor space limit on conversions and a requirement that the building must have been vacant for at least three months.
34.We were concerned about the lack of an Impact Assessment (IA) or even basic impact information. We concluded that without such information, it was not possible for Parliament to carry out its scrutiny function properly and to form a view on whether the changes made by the instrument are material and to what extent they will support the delivery of new housing. We wrote to the Minister, Lee Rowley MP, in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to raise our concerns about the insufficient explanatory material and to request the missing impact information.
35.The Minister’s response, which includes basic impact information is published in Appendix 2. While we note that the Department expects the changes to deliver an additional 1,700 residential units by 2029–30, we regret that the Department was unable to clear all elements of the IA and submit the IA to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) for scrutiny before laying the instrument. As we highlighted in our 15th Report and as the Government’s own Better Regulation Framework makes clear, the “final IA must be laid in Parliament alongside the legislation, permitting scrutiny by parliamentarians and other relevant bodies. This is an important consideration, not only for public and parliamentary transparency, but also to enable the UK Government to meet its legal obligations under international law.”13
11 15th Report (Session 2022–23, HL Paper 75).
12 Ibid.
13 Department for Business and Trade, ‘Better Regulation Framework: Guidance’ (September 2023): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65420ee8d36c91000d935b58/Better_Regulation_Framework_guidance.pdf [accessed 6 March 2024], para 3.7.