Speeches by White.

“A lot of these are micro-targeted. We are looking at different demographics. When looking at energy efficiency saving up £150 off your bills, we are going for more vulnerable groups, older people, people with young families and people with disabilities. We are looking at where we need to target those most effectively. …”

“People either believe that Britain is important and has an impact in the world or they do not. I am in the former camp; I think that Britain has an impact in the world. The impact of our behaviour is far greater than the amount of our emissions. We sit on the UN Security Council. When we introduced the Climate Change A…”

“I feel very fortunate to have a Minister of State for Housing who I think previously sat in my job in Opposition, so has a strong personal commitment. As I say, I find ministerial colleagues incredibly helpful. We are looking forward to the future homes standards coming forward imminently.”

“I certainly feel I have strong support from my ministerial colleagues within other Departments. I work really closely with them, whether they are at DFT, DEFRA or MHCLG, and I have no reticence in saying that they feel as much commitment to this as I do. They feel it is cross-Government.”

“I think it should be multiple message carriers. I am working with multiple message carriers. We work with the Net Zero Council, which was relaunched under the Secretary of State, and a great selection of individuals, from trade union leaders to corporate leaders to leaders of NGOs, within that. Each of them has a role …”

“The clean energy mission is more in our gift than the carbon budget. To go through it, we have to be much clearer with DFT, DEFRA and other Government Departments that we are working with. Please chip in whenever you want, Ryan, but the clean energy mission is much more in the gift of the Department. We do work really …”

“I think there is absolutely more to do to make that clear.”

“If what you are saying, Chair, is that people want to tackle climate change and at the same time reduce their cost of living, I completely agree with you. People want both those things. We as a Government have to meet both of those needs: we need to make sure that we are leading the transition to a low-carbon Britain, …”

“Thank you, Chair, for that question. If we look at the statistics, the polling numbers are, surprisingly—I say that as a Member of Parliament, because sometimes perception is different—incredibly high, in terms of the British public supporting taking action on climate change. We do regular assessments, but 79% of the p…”

“If I jump in, we are obviously monitoring in different ways and looking at where the different audiences are. The way I look at it is that there is a national debate at a country level, and then we have a community-constituency level and then a citizen-consumer level. Obviously, they all feed in and interrelate to each…”

“No. On the list of the things that I want to do, it is nowhere near my list of priorities, because it would take a lot of time and money, and I would rather spend that on talking to people around a table in a normal way and trying to communicate in different ways. There are so many great things that the Department is d…”

“For sure. I am the Minister for Climate Action, since September. I am responsible for net zero strategy, the carbon budget, green finance and international climate change.”

“Absolutely. I have thoroughly enjoyed being at this session because it is making me check all my ideas. Under this Government—I pay tribute to what the previous Government did; we should always take pride in what has happened—we have had far more active engagement from the unions. Whether that is about workforce planni…”

“First, in terms of the risks and what is happening in our country at the moment, I think you just spoke to Neil Morisetti about what the risks are and what is happening in our country at the moment. Colleagues have been flooded—what is the impact of that? We need to make sure that people are aware of why we are taking …”

“I think people have different motivations. I was trying to make the point that people understand it is an issue and want to act on it because they can see the trajectory and where it is heading. There is a lot of concern about energy security sovereignty and about children and grandchildren. People are motivated to lea…”

“Absolutely.”

“You referred to some of the interventions we have already made. We have doubled the warm homes discount, so it is now available to 6 million people over the course of this winter. We will be taking, as you rightly mention, £150 off energy costs thanks to the announcements in the Budget. Obviously, we had the warm homes…”

“We are looking at all options—don’t get me in trouble!”

“Exactly.”

“My first answer is to listen. Often it is about listening to what people’s genuine concerns are. Sometimes there are genuine concerns, and we should listen to those genuine concerns and make sure that we are meeting them. Otherwise, sometimes it is about reassurance. As you say, who is the right messenger? It will depe…”