EWS | DIGEST Stuart Andrew appointed 11th housing minister since 2010 West Yorkshire MP Stuart Andrew has been appointed by Boris Johnson as the new minister of state for housing. He replaces Christopher Pincher, who had filled the portfolio for nearly two years. The two have swapped jobs, with Pincher becoming deputy Conservative chief whip in a mini-reshuffle that took place on 8 February. Andrew, a private landlord, was born and brought up in Wales, but has represented the seat of Pudsey since the 2010 General Election. He will lead in the House of Commons on building safety, including cladding remediation, which is part of junior minister Lord Greenhalghs portfolio. Andrew is the 11th housing minister since 2010. In 2016, he voted against a Labour amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill to make all homes fit for human habitation, one of 72 Conservative MPs who are also private landlords to have done so. MP Stuart Andrew Bill proposes limit on embodied carbon A backbench Conservative MP has launched a parliamentary bid to force buildings wholelife carbon emissions to be reported. Duncan Baker, MP for North Norfolk, introduced the Carbon Emissions (Buildings) Bill in the House of Common on 2 February. The legislation would not only require the whole-life carbon emissions of buildings to be reported, but would also set limits on the embodied carbon emissions in the construction of buildings. The bill is based on proposals in a report, published last year by the Part Z industry group, on how Building Regulations could be amended to account for embodied carbon. Baker told the House of Commons that the construction and upkeep of new and existing buildings and infrastructure is responsible for up to 50 million tonnes of carbon emissions, around one-third of the UK total. Ten-minute rule bills, which are a mechanism by which individual MPs can introduce their own legislation, generally have little chance of being passed in parliament. However, Bakers bill has attracted support from opposition MPs, including sole Green representative Caroline Lucas, as well as other Conservatives. One million new homes will need retrotting, say MPs Homes being built now will need retrotting at signicant cost Government urged to bring forward Future Homes Standard to 2023 It is nave to assume that one million homes due to be built in this parliament will not need to be retrotted, a House of Commons select committee has concluded. In its report, Decarbonising heat in homes, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee added that implementation of the Future Homes Standard (FHS) should be bought forward two years, to 2023. The report states that one million homes the government aims to build before the parliamentary term expires in 2024 will be heated by fossil-fuel systems because of the decision not to implement the FHS until 2025. It is nave to assume that these homes will not need to be retrotted at signicant cost, the committee says. We acknowledge that the government wants to give industry the time to develop its supply chains; however, this appears to be to the detriment of new-build homeowners, who will have to pay to retrot their homes. The FHS is a key policy in the energy white paper, published last year, but the committee demands that ministers in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities prioritise this crucial work more clearly in the future. They also say the government is not yet on track to deliver on its own home heatdecarbonisation targets. Given the extremely limited state of consumer awareness about why and how heating systems must change, the committee recommends a government campaign to explain the potential costs and benets of the transition. The report also recommends the creation of a low carbon heating apprenticeship programme. Levelling Up white paper a missed opportunity for housing UKGBC The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has slammed the governments Levelling Up white paper as a missed opportunity to tackle the scourge of poor housing. As part of one of its 12 stated missions, the paper sets out the governments ambition for the number of non-decent rented homes to have halved by 2030, with the biggest improvements in the lowest-performing areas, such as Yorkshire & Humber, the North West and the West Midlands. Further detail will be set out once the review of the Decent Homes Standard has concluded, the paper states. However, Simon McWhirter, director of communications, policy and places at UKGBC, said the paper had not gone far enough. A major national home retrot programme is urgently required to insulate Britains left-behind areas from soaring gas prices, and to create tens of thousands of green jobs where they are most needed, he said. A new ambition to bring only half of private rented homes up to a decent standard by 2030 is disappointing, as private landlords are already required to meet a higher energy efciency standard than that being proposed. It was equally disappointing, he added, that the white paper was silent on governments plans to support the upgrading of owner-occupied homes. Homes with poor EPCs face steep rise in bills The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) says households living in EPC band D properties are spending, on average, 170 per year more on energy bills than their band C neighbours. This gure rises to 420 for those living in the bottom-rated band F homes. Below-average energy efciency makes households vulnerable to soaring gas and electricity bills, adds the ECIU. The proportion of band C homes is less than the national average in the majority of Englands 40 most marginal constituencies, it adds. 8 March 2022 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE March 22 pp08 News.indd 8 25/02/2022 18:25