Second stage of 'Green Deal: watching brief' inquiry announced

• Inquiry: Green Deal: watching brief (part 2)
• Energy and Climate Change Committee

We identified key areas in which scrutiny would be beneficial, and outlined our intention to review the performance of the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) at a later date. A list of information and statistics that we would find useful in doing this is set out in recommendation 16 of the report.

We are now launching the second stage of our Green Deal: Watching Brief inquiry, in which we will evaluate performance and initial outcomes in the seven key areas outlined in our report:

• Public awareness and communications
• Take-up levels
• Energy and carbon savings
• Value for money
• Access to the Green Deal and ECO
• Customer satisfaction 
• Supply chain and job creation

We will also assess DECC’s approach to evaluating and monitoring the performance of the Green Deal and ECO, and will consider DECC’s recent proposals to improve the Green Deal and reduce the cost of ECO.

Terms of Reference

The Committee invites responses by Friday 28 February 2014 addressing any or all of the following questions:

Public awareness and communications

• Is the level of public awareness about the Green Deal satisfactory?
• How effective have DECC’s communications regarding the Green Deal been?
• Has the cashback incentive been effective in raising awareness and take-up of the Green Deal?

Take-up levels

• Are take-up levels for the Green Deal satisfactory?
• Is there sufficient take-up to meet the UK’s goals for reducing carbon emissions and keeping down bill costs?
• Are there key points of the Green Deal process at which customers are dropping out? If so, why?
• Is there any evidence that consumers are installing energy efficiency measures on the back of Green Deal advice but not using Green Deal Finance?

Energy and carbon savings

• Are energy and carbon savings being delivered? If so, are they sufficient to meet the UK’s goals for reducing carbon emissions and keeping down bill costs

Value for money

• Are Green Deal customers achieving financial savings in practice?
• Do the Green Deal and ECO represent value for money?

Access to the Green Deal and ECO

• Is access to the Green Deal and ECO satisfactory?
• Are any particular groups of people benefiting disproportionately or failing to benefit from the Green Deal and ECO?

Customer satisfaction

• Is the Green Deal providing customer satisfaction?
• How satisfied have customers been with the different stages of the Green Deal process and with different Green Deal providers?
• Are satisfaction levels disproportionately high or low for any particular group of people?

Supply chain and job creation

• Have the Green Deal and ECO had any impact on the supply chain and job creation?

Evaluation and monitoring

• Are DECC’s stated aims and objectives for the Green Deal and ECO satisfactory?
• Is DECC’s approach to evaluating the success of the Green Deal and ECO clear and robust?
• Is DECC collaborating with other organisations to maximise its understanding of how the Green Deal is performing?

Improving the Green Deal and ECO

• How robust are DECC’s recent proposals to streamline and improve the Green Deal and to reduce the cost of ECO?
• Could DECC take further action to improve the Green Deal and ECO?

Notes of Submission of Written Evidence

Written submissions should be sent via the Green Deal: watching brief part 2 inquiry page on the Energy and Climate Change Committee website.

The deadline is Friday 28 February 2014. As a guideline submissions should state clearly who the submission is from e.g. ‘Written evidence submitted by xxxx’ and be no longer than 3000 words; please contact the Committee staff if you wish to discuss this. If you need to send hard copy please send it to: The Clerk, Energy and Climate Change Committee, 14 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NB. 

Submissions must be a self-contained memorandum in Word or Rich Text Format (not PDFs). Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference and the document should, if possible, include an executive summary. 

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

Publication of evidence

The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives, either by printing the evidence, publishing it on the internet or by making it publicly available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure; the Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence. 

The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing. The Clerk of the House of Commons is the data controller for the purposes of the Act.