The green deal

Book excerpt: Three years into the life of this Parliament, Ministers are unable to define what they hope to achieve through of one of the Coalition's flagship policies. It's impossible to assess policy if the Government itself cannot explain precisely what it is hoping to achieve. At a time when gas and electricity bills are on the rise, improving the energy efficiency of our homes could not be more important. The Committee plans to monitor progress of the Green Deal over the coming years. This report sets out seven key areas in which it will focus its scrutiny: public awareness and communications; take-up levels; energy and carbon savings; financial savings and value for money; access to the Green Deal and ECO; customer satisfaction; and supply chain and job creation. It identifies a number of potential challenges, which could lead to low take up of the Green Deal. For example, people in rented accommodation might have difficulty gaining consents from their landlords, households might find the "hassle" of building works too much to want to upgrade their property, or cheaper sources of finance might be available from other sources. If take up levels are low, it will be important to understand why this is, so that the policy can be improved. The report calls on the Government to publish information showing how well the Green Deal is progressing. The Committee also says that DECC should seek opportunities to collaborate with research organisations to maximise its understanding of whether the scheme is working well.