New inquiry on the UK workforce needed to deliver clean, secure energy
11 November 2024
In 2021, the Public Accounts Committee found that the flagship Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme had delivered only about 47,500 home energy upgrades out of 600,000 originally envisaged. The project accounted for just £314 million of its original £1.5 billion budget, and £50 million of that was administration costs - more than £1,000 per home upgraded.
The Scheme delivered a small fraction of the jobs it was expected to: the inquiry heard it could take 48 months to train the specialists required to implement key parts of the home-greening plans.
The ESNZ Committee before the General Election heard across all the inquiries it conducted about the difficulties resourcing work across the energy sector: from installing cleaner home heating to building infrastructure, from working in the new North Sea renewables industry to planning commercial and office space.
Today the newly appointed Energy Security and Net Zero Committee is launching an inquiry on how to build the workforce that is needed to deliver the policies and infrastructure for the UK’s clean, secure energy mission.
This inquiry aims to:
- Explore the difficulties in recruiting and retraining the workforce to deliver a clean energy sector and retrofit homes and businesses;
- Assess how the new Office for Clean Energy jobs can contribute to workforce planning and
- Gain an understanding of the specific role of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in delivering clean energy jobs.
The Committee invites evidence:
The Committee is now inviting evidence from individuals and organisations on any or all of the following questions:
- Does the Government have an appropriate understanding of the skill needs to deliver the Clean Energy Mission by 2030 as well as decarbonise homes and businesses?
- To what extent can the Clean Energy Mission and the retrofitting of homes and businesses be carried out by the existing workforce, and to what extent will it require new entrants to the workforce?
- How might the Government ensure that the job market in clean energy roles is sustainable enough to incentivise private sector investment in training for 2030 and beyond?
- How can the new Office for Clean Energy jobs contribute to workforce planning in the energy sector?
- What more can the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero do to ensure the workforce is in place to deliver the Clean Energy Mission and accelerate the retrofitting of homes and businesses?
Anyone with evidence on these questions can find more information and submit it here by Monday 13 January 2025
Further information
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