Speeches by Reader.

“I would like to come back to that. That is a very interesting point, Amanda, so bear with me as I jump through my questions a little bit. Shabir, I was interested in what you said about Trading Standards. I wanted to ask if you thought it was effectively able to enforce against rogue installers. It sounds as though you…”

“For disclosure, I worked in the construction industry for nearly 20 years. When I was first a civil engineer, clerks of works and resident engineers were very common, but it sounds as if there is no independent checking of this work now. Do you think that in future government programmes for retrofitting heat pumps and …”

“It is worth noting a very strong proposal on licensing from the Federation of Master Builders, which recognises this issue across the sector. The Committee should take note. Are you aware of any directors of these companies that some of the panel have described as rogue traders being struck off, and those directors bei…”

“I will bring Shabir and Amanda in very quickly.”

“Damian, can I ask two final quick questions? I am conscious the Chair wants us to try to stick to time. Do you think TrustMark and MCS are effectively able to monitor and sanction installers?”

“For disclosure, I worked in the construction industry for nearly 20 years. When I was first a civil engineer, clerks of works and resident engineers were very common, but it sounds as if there is no independent checking of this work now. Do you think that in future government programmes for retrofitting heat pumps and …”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Western. I thank the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse)—a fellow member of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee—for introducing this important debate. We have been doing a lot of work over recent weeks in the Committee on energy pricing and the cost to consume…”

“We talked a lot about consumers and demand management. Do you think that there is enough being done with industry, particularly heavy industry, in managing demand from those on networks?”

“There is obviously decarbonising industry, but there is still the demand management of the decarbonised energy. Is there enough focus on that from Government and industry in driving down and managing demand better from industry, particularly heavy industry?”

“If it is all right, Chair, I am going to eat into my time slightly to ask a couple of follow-up questions. I am really interested in the controls environment you are setting up. Apologies, I missed the start of the session. I was in a DL. You have a role for assurance. How mature would you say the controls environment …”

“Do you think you have the right balance of advisers and doers in the function that you have?”

“Looking at England in particular, we have some established strategic authorities. We have an announcement today of some newly formed ones, which of course will go through that formation. Then we have existing councils and others that are left in the current formation. Do you think that period of change is going to help…”

“In terms of engaging with devolved Governments, how are you doing that, in particular with Scotland, because it is quite a different consenting regime?”

“I am going to talk about the balance of technologies. What technologies would provide the most effective route to meeting the 2030 target?”

“What about enabling systems around those technologies?”

“My next question was actually on storage, so thank you, Marcelle and Stuart, for picking that up. Adam, what is key to getting enough storage? Do you think there is enough focus in energy on the storage needed? We see a lot of focus on generation, distribution and transmission, but is there enough focus on the storage …”

“Do you think industry feels confident that Government have got a grip on that?”

“Stuart, what role do you think new nuclear, SMR, and carbon capture will have in achieving 2030 specifically?”

“Given the quite substantial cost, do you think we have the right balance, in terms of where Government are focusing, between renewables and these more unproven technologies?”

“On that point around risk and perhaps riskier or more or less unproven technologies, do Government need to be clear on discarding those in the short term in terms of what they focus on so that we achieve 2030? Should Government disincentivise the riskier or more unproven stuff to make sure that we hit our targets?”