Written questions by Hendrick.

What assessment he has made of trends in the level of rollout of heat pumps by boiler manufacturers.

UK heat pump sales hit a record high in 2025, and the government expects to see continued growth over the coming years. Manufacturers of a range of heating technologies, including fossil fuel boilers, are among the leading players in this growing market. The government will continue to keep developments in the market under close review as heat pump uptake in existing and new homes continues to gather pace.

What steps his Department is taking to strengthen regulations on biomass energy production and waste incineration companies, including to ensure the sector takes responsibility for reducing its carbon emissions.

Biomass electricity generators receiving support must comply with strict sustainability criteria covering supply chain greenhouse gas emissions. The government is developing a cross-sector biomass sustainability framework to further strengthen these requirements and enable consistency between government supported sectors. Waste incineration facilities are regulated through the relevant environmental permitting regime, which sets emissions limits and monitoring requirements. The government is committed to expanding the scope of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to waste incineration. This will price emissions from the sector and incentivise decarbonisation. The UK ETS Authority will set out final policy design in due course.

What steps he is taking to ensure that the green workforce is expanding at a pace sufficient to meet the growing demands of an accelerated energy transition.

In October 2025, the Government published the Clean Energy Jobs Plan (CEJP). The CEJP sets out the workforce needed to deliver our clean energy superpower mission, and how the government will work in partnership with industry and trade unions to deliver it. This month we have announced 5 new Clean Energy Technical Excellence Colleges to support delivery of this workforce. We have also committed to implement a Fair Work Charter alongside the Clean Industry Bonus, to help ensure that clean energy jobs are good jobs.

What steps he is taking to (a) expand and (b) ensure resiliency of the UK’s gas (i) infrastructure and storage systems and (ii) reserves.

Government works continuously with industry to improve and maintain the resilience and security of energy infrastructure to a range of evolving risks and future system changes. In 2026, DESNZ will publish an Energy Resilience Strategy to set out Government’s long-term priorities to maintain energy resilience now and in the future. The UK benefits from diverse gas supply sources. This limits our reliance on any one type of infrastructure - in winter 24/25, gas storage provided ~8% of GB’s total gas use. We are confident this diverse portfolio will continue to meet GB’s energy needs. However, Government recognises the energy transition may change future infrastructure requirements. We recently consulted on options to safeguard gas security of supply, including measures to encourage investment in additional storage capacity if needed. A response will follow in due course.

What steps he is taking to (a) encourage the installation of heat pumps and (b) ensure that homes are properly insulated to support the effective operation of those heat pumps.

The Government is making is easier for households to install heat pumps. This includes increasing the budget for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and amending Permitted Development Rights in England to give households greater flexibility to install a heat pump. Our schemes such as the Warm Homes: Local Grant, Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Energy Company Obligation provide support for energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies like heat pumps. The Warm Homes Plan (WHP) will focus on ensuring homes are more comfortable to live in and cheaper to heat. In many cases, that will mean improvements to the fabric of the building in order to maximise the bill savings and thermal comfort, alongside switching to low carbon heat. Further detail on the WHP will be announced by October.