Speeches by Downie.

“Dion, you mentioned the difficulty of older people being confident in taking loans. How important is political consensus to that, that there will be continuation, and what would the impact be of some parties this week suggesting that these grants or conditions could be cut in the future?”

“Specifically on some of the loan conditions, would you say it is important that the loans have things like security against job loss or other elements built in to build that confidence up as well?”

“You have just touched on some of the questions I wanted to ask about loan structures. Specifically, let me ask Peter and probably Brenda the first question: what lessons could we learn from the Green Deal and the Green Homes Grant about how to structure loans properly? How do you start going about building consumer con…”

“What do you mean by expensive? I know it is difficult, but it is important that we have some definition; otherwise, the risk is people will say it is too expensive. They will put a larger cost on it.”

“When Joanne and Sam mentioned the need for more public education, do we need to make sure that we are being open in the beginning about how much this costs? If so, what window or bracket should we be saying? For example, this will cost you X and save you X—certainly the first part, maybe the second part is a bit harder…”

“Finally, as I alluded to in the last session, is there any evidence that scrapping the boiler upgrade scheme could see money saved on energy bills, as we have seen proposed this week?”

“This might be one for Louise, but anyone else can chip in. Do you think the Government are right that up-front costs of heat pumps will fall in the future as this expands? Have they got that right? If not, how do we make sure that the costs come down faster?”

“We heard in the last session—you just mentioned this again, Jo—about the necessity to target those fuel poor or in fuel poverty. Is there enough consumer knowledge and confidence about heat pump technology that would necessitate that upward drive, so people asking for it as well? Or is that something the Government nee…”

“What else would be needed?”

“Sam and Jo have alluded to the need for market certainty to grow businesses. Is the expanded boiler upgrade scheme funding sufficient to meet increases in demand while keeping costs manageable as well? Joanne, can we start with you?”

“Brenda, do you have anything to add?”

“So all those benefits could be put at risk by announcements from political parties suggesting that perhaps this will not continue?”

“Peter, what would your view be on that, and what impact would it have on people’s likelihood to access loans or other support if they felt that it was not going to be there? What effect would that have on their circumstances down the line when it comes to fuel poverty?”

“Dion, you mentioned the difficulty of older people being confident in taking loans. How important is political consensus to that, that there will be continuation, and what would the impact be of some parties this week suggesting that these grants or conditions could be cut in the future?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his very clear and measured statement. May I ask him about two points? First, if we see rises in bills in forthcoming months, can we ensure that the blame is placed firmly where it should be—on the actions of the Iranian Government in attacking and threatening the strait of Hormuz? Se…”

“A more general question to Fintan and Claire: Energy UK has suggested that a small investment in modernising NESO systems would deliver billions of pounds in efficiencies, although, to be honest, it was not able to provide details. However, when it comes to NESO systems, what modernisation can be conducted, and how muc…”

“I am keen to understand how often you run tests of that. Is that externally monitored? I do understand the difficulty of giving away how you protect, but could you give as much detail as you can to provide reassurance?”

“Who knew that Scottish weather would be helpful. Thank you.”

“Very briefly, as someone who spent quite a large part of their life trying to get renewables projects consented in Scotland, one of the biggest barriers we had with the public was complaints around constraint costs and wind farms being paid to be turned off. It was a recurring theme everywhere we went, which was frustr…”

“I want to pick up on some issues about modernisation of NESO systems, but also particularly around cyber-security as well. IBM has found that energy is one of the most highly targeted sectors in the UK for cyber-attack. We had the European Union Institute for Security Studies note that some Chinese hackers have shown t…”