Written questions by Moon.

Whether he plans to use the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund to accelerate the roll out of Ground Source Heat Pumps and Shared Ground loops.

The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund provides grant funding for social housing landlords to improve the energy performance of their properties. Ground Source Heat Pumps and Shared Ground Loops are both eligible measures under the scheme. They are supported by both the ‘On-Gas-Grid Low Carbon Heating Incentive Offer’ and the ‘Off-Gas-Grid Low Carbon Heating Cost Cap Uplift’, which provide funding to support installations of low carbon heating technologies. All measures installed under the scheme must be lodged onto the TrustMark Retrofit Portal, adhere to requirements within Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2035, and be installed by an appropriately certified PAS or Microgeneration Certification Scheme installer which is TrustMark registered.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of exempting Ground Source Heat Pumps from blowout prevention permitting requirements in Mining Remediation Authority Areas.

The Mining Remediation Authority are responsible for safely managing the effects of past coal mining and will request a risk assessment as part of the permit to drill phase and the heat access agreement application for projects with groundworks in or near to coal (including mine workings) to help ensure works are undertaken safely. Guidance on managing the risk of hazardous gases when drilling or piling near coal can be found on GOV.UK. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is not currently exploring exempting Ground Source Heat Pumps from coal mining risk assessments.

Whether he has considered implementing a licencing regime similar to the Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence to help clarify the (a) rights and (b) responsibilities of developers of geothermal energy.

The Government is considering various indirect support measures for the development of geothermal energy including regulatory approaches. However, a specific licensing regime like the Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence has not been established in the UK, and at this time the Government is not currently considering implementing a licencing regime for geothermal energy.

What recent discussions he has had with OFGEM on funding for shared ground loops under the Energy Company Obligation Scheme.

There is provision within the rules of ECO4 for shared ground loops to be delivered. ECO4 is not funded by government. Rather, the government requires energy suppliers to deliver energy efficiency measures to eligible households. The energy suppliers fund those measures and recoup the costs from their customers’ energy bills.