17:36 The Minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change (Greg Hands)

The Government are also focused on delivering a programme of work to tackle energy efficiency in order to target longer-term energy bill reductions. We are investing £6.6 billion in energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation over this Parliament. We will deliver upgrades to over half a million homes in the coming years through our social housing decarbonisation fund, home upgrade grant schemes and energy company obligation scheme, delivering additional average bill savings of £300.

We must continue to decarbonise, reducing our dependency on expensive, imported fossil fuels and bolstering our energy security through clean, home-grown energy. A net zero economy is not just critical to tackling climate change; it is also in our strategic interest as a means to reducing our reliance on global energy markets. That is why the Government’s British energy security strategy, published in April, set out a series of bold commitments, which put Great Britain at the leading edge of the global energy revolution.

The Government are delivering on this, for example, in our latest renewables auction, awarding contracts for difference to a record 93 new renewable energy projects, which will total almost 11 GW of new generating capacity for Great Britain—enough to generate sufficient electricity to power around 12 million homes. The UK is already a world leader in offshore wind, with the biggest installed capacity in Europe, generating 12.7 GW of electricity, enough to power around 10 million homes. We are continuing to increase this with another 6.8 GW in construction and a further 7 GW in preparation. We are increasing our nuclear ambition with the construction of Hinkley Point C and Government investment into Sizewell C, both of which could power 6 million homes. We are also launching Great British Nuclear, a body tasked with developing a resilient pipeline of new build nuclear projects. We have launched a major review into Britain’s electricity market design, to radically enhance energy security, and to help deliver our world-leading climate targets, while reducing exposure to international gas markets.

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17:43 Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)

The only aspect of this rehashed statement to welcome is the acknowledgment from the Minister that the current proposals are insufficient to avoid a catastrophe. What we should be getting today is a proper updated statement on energy security and a net zero update that would reflect additional investment in renewables such as pumped storage hydro, Peterhead carbon capture and storage, what is happening with the Rough gas storage facility, the decoupling of renewables from gas, and grid upgrades.

My hon. Friend is always a strong voice for Redcar and Teesside. I think that every single question he has ever asked me has included hydrogen somewhere. He is auditioning, I think, to be the UK’s Mr Hydrogen. He has mentioned CCUS as well, which is a big priority of ours, and he is absolutely right to say that energy efficiency is so important. If we can reduce the amount of energy that is used to create the same level of heating in people’s homes, clearly that is a massive gain. That is why we have invested £6.6 billion over the course of this Parliament in energy efficiency.

On dependence on renewables, the right hon. Member is right that a number of elements used in creating renewable energy resources are dependent on critical minerals, but that is exactly one of the reasons why the Government have recently launched the critical minerals strategy. We will be talking to all our international partners, as I do, about critical minerals and making sure that we have a diversity of sources of supply for them going forward.

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