Twenty-Seventh Report - Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme

The government describes its existing Projects and Investment Committee (PIC) process for assessing large investments and ensuring value for money, implying current mechanisms address such issues, rather than directly acknowledging the committee's findings on the specific cost inefficiencies of the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme.

The government agrees with the committee's findings and is engaging with suppliers and industry to ensure high-quality heat pump training is available, aiming to create jobs through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the new Green Jobs Delivery Group.

The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding job performance and monitoring. It states the independent evaluation of the GHGv scheme is assessing its impact on jobs using qualitative and quantitative methods, and commits that future policies will adhere to monitoring and evaluation frameworks. From 2022-2024, the department will explore data science methods to monitor job trends for the wider Net Zero strategy.

The government recognises the impact of shortened timescales on stakeholder engagement. It commits to improving future policy implementation by undertaking robust public consultation for each proposed development to gather views from stakeholders and seek feedback from consumers, and will share lessons learned from the GHGv scheme.

The government agrees with the committee's observation, stating the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) will be implemented by Winter 2023. It details ongoing engagement with suppliers, efforts to ensure heat pump training is available with industry capacity to upskill 7,000 installers annually, and expects the BUS to support 2,100 direct FTE jobs, with ongoing monitoring of job trends.

The government agrees with the committee's findings, stating the recommendation is implemented, and has initiated multiple specific actions including a lessons learned repository, mandatory engagement with previous projects in business cases, and a new programme to transform delivery capability.

The government agrees with the recommendation and states it is 'implemented,' committing to fully recognise and learn from the scheme's failures. It details steps including an independent evaluation due Autumn 2023, extensive sharing of lessons internally and across Whitehall, and a new programme to transform departmental delivery capability for future projects.

The government explained that the Accounting Officer assessed the risks of the Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme, gained assurance on funding flexibility from HM Treasury and digital product approval from GDS, and consequently did not consider a ministerial direction to be required based on existing governance approvals.

The government explained that the Accounting Officer assessed the risks of the Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme, gained assurance on funding flexibility from HM Treasury and digital product approval from GDS, and consequently did not consider a ministerial direction to be required based on existing governance approvals.

The government agrees with the committee's findings, stating the recommendation is implemented, and details specific procedures it will undertake for future procurements, including robust supplier assessment, clear evaluation criteria, and thorough checks on bids and implementation plans.

The government agrees with the committee's findings, stating the recommendation is implemented, and details specific procedures it will undertake for future procurements, including robust supplier assessment, clear evaluation criteria, and thorough checks on bids and implementation plans, to prevent similar issues.

The government agreed with the recommendation to improve procurement processes, outlining a detailed list of actions the department will undertake both before and after receiving bids. These actions include a two-stage process, robust supplier assessment, engaging GDS for IT systems evaluation, thorough evaluation of implementation plans, and forensic accountancy for bid pricing.

The government agrees with the recommendation, stating it is 'implemented'. It commits to a range of enhanced procurement processes including considering two-stage processes for earlier supplier involvement, robust market assessments, analyzing CCS framework contracts for protection, improving evaluation training, engaging GDS for IT systems, and conducting thorough bid evaluations including abnormal low bid assessments and exploring deliverability pre-award.