That this House, believing that home insulation is beneficial both to occupiers and the environment, shares the view of three Select Committee reports, namely the Energy Committee in 1989 and again in 1991 and the Environment Committee in 1993 that houses should be rated for energy efficiency; believes that an excellent time to achieve this desirable end is at the point of sale; notes that since the initiative to achieve this was launched in 1984 by the Energy Secretary, the former Right honourable Member for Worcester, there have been a number of attempts to persuade mortgage lenders to include energy ratings as part of mortgage surveys, including the efforts of the former Minister for Energy Conservation the former Member for Hertfordshire West, but that all these have had little or no success; notes, too, that an initiative would add only a few minutes onto a mortgage survey; and therefore supports the Energy Efficiency Bill sponsored by the honourable Member for Devon West and Torridge and a cross-party group of honourable Members, which will require mortgage lenders to include energy ratings and energy advice in their mortgage surveys and also to take reasonable steps to promote the benefits of energy efficiency to existing borrowers.

That this House, believing that home insulation is beneficial both to occupiers and the environment, shares the view of three Select Committee reports, namely the Energy Committee in 1989 and again in 1991 and the Environment Committee in 1993 that houses should be rated for energy efficiency; believes that an...