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Planning and Energy Bill

Given the thickness of the document and paper's lack of conductivity, that might not be a bad idea. However, the document is interesting, and I hope that it will help my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich to sleep at night. As part of the review, the Government made it clear that they wanted to work closely with local authorities on compliance with building regulations and how those regulations could be improved. Measures being implemented or under consideration included a simplified single approach to showing compliance and a substantial information and training campaign targeted at building control bodies—the local authorities, of course—and the industry. That campaign ran into 2006 and included an e-learning pack, in what were the early days of that sort of thing. It also included simplified technical guidance and new approved documents, backed up by reference documents containing technical details. [Interruption.] My hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich is reading those with avid interest. A number of new competent person self-certification schemes were also set up. That was a significant step forward. In July 2006, the Department now called the Department for Communities and Local Government set out in a press notice some of the measures that it was introducing to make housing more sustainable. One of the key issues was the Warm Front grant scheme. Most Members have constituents who have benefited from that; in my constituency, several hundred households, particularly those of pensioners and people on low incomes, have benefited considerably from the scheme, which has enabled insulation to be installed. The local authority and the Greater London assembly, under the former London Mayor, have provided their own insulation arrangements in conjunction with the energy companies.