My Lords, NHS Blood and Transplant has expanded donation capacity to meet the nation’s needs, opening three new donor centres and additional mobile sessions, adding 3,900 weekly appointments. However, blood stocks remain fragile, and we urgently need more donors, with 71,000 appointments still to fill over the festive period. I urge everyone, including noble Lords, to donate. Noble Lords will have the opportunity at tomorrow’s dedicated parliamentary session in Portcullis House to help to ensure a resilient and reliable blood supply this winter.

In 2020 the UK committed to the World Bank zero routine flaring by 2030 initiative to end routine flaring and venting by 2030. The UK’s oil and gas sector has one of the lowest upstream methane emission intensities globally, but the North Sea contains a lot of ageing infrastructure, including much with only a short production life remaining. However, the approach the UK has been taking, with support from government and regulators, means that the industry is on track to meet its ambitious emissions reduction targets.

The Department currently monitors the geographical location of solar developments through the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD). We plan to broaden the scope of this database to provide information on the area and types of agricultural land used by existing solar projects and those in the planning pipeline.

The Green Home Finance Accelerator programme, supports the development of innovative green finance products and services that help homeowners cover the upfront cost of decarbonising their homes.

Following a competitive process, 26 projects were awarded funding to research and develop their product over a six-month Discovery Phase. 13 projects were successful in securing a share of approximately £16 million to pilot their products with homeowners across the UK until June 2025. The results of the pilot phase for each project will be published later in the year and the Government will use the findings of these to inform future policy development.

The Government will publish a Warm Homes Plan in due course, this will set out how we will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future.

As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1bn of this allocated to 2025/2026.

Private finance can play a key role in helping us achieve our decarbonisation ambitions. As part of the Government’s ambitious Warm Homes Plan, officials are exploring the role of incentives and private finance for households to support homeowners, including landlords, with the upfront costs of energy efficiency upgrades and low carbon energy technology. This includes engaging with the finance sector on the potential for low-interest loans.

After the spending review, we will be publishing the Warm Homes Plan which will set out further details.

The Government recognises the important role that private finance can play in supporting with the upfront costs of energy efficiency improvements and low carbon heating. We are reviewing property-linked finance schemes implemented in countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada. We will continue to explore options for working with the private sector, including banks and building societies, to scale up private finance and support owners and businesses to future-proof their buildings.

The government places great importance upon our agricultural land and food production. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should recognise the benefits of the Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land (land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) system). Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

As of the end of September 2024, ground-mounted solar PV panels covered an estimated 21,200 hectares. This amounts to around 0.1% of the land area of the UK. The government does not hold information on the number of ground-mounted solar projects that have been permitted and built on different agricultural grades, or the number of acres of grade 1 and 2 land which has been built on since 2020.

The government places great importance upon our agricultural land and food production. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should recognise the benefits of the Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land (land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) system). Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

As of the end of September 2024, ground-mounted solar PV panels covered an estimated 21,200 hectares. This amounts to around 0.1% of the land area of the UK. The government does not hold information on the number of ground-mounted solar projects that have been permitted and built on different agricultural grades, or the number of acres of grade 1 and 2 land which has been built on since 2020.

The government places great importance upon our agricultural land and food production. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should recognise the benefits of the Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land (land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) system). Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

As of the end of September 2024, ground-mounted solar PV panels covered an estimated 21,200 hectares. This amounts to around 0.1% of the land area of the UK. The government does not hold information on the number of ground-mounted solar projects that have been permitted and built on different agricultural grades, or the number of acres of grade 1 and 2 land which has been built on since 2020.

The government places great importance upon our agricultural land and food production. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should recognise the benefits of the Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land (land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) system). Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

As of the end of September 2024, ground-mounted solar PV panels covered an estimated 21,200 hectares. This amounts to around 0.1% of the land area of the UK. The government does not hold information on the number of ground-mounted solar projects that have been permitted and built on different agricultural grades, or the number of acres of grade 1 and 2 land which has been built on since 2020.

The government places great importance upon our agricultural land and food production. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should recognise the benefits of the Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land (land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) system). Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

As of the end of September 2024, ground-mounted solar PV panels covered an estimated 21,200 hectares. This amounts to around 0.1% of the land area of the UK. The government does not hold information on the number of ground-mounted solar projects that have been permitted and built on different agricultural grades, or the number of acres of grade 1 and 2 land which has been built on since 2020.

The Energy Act 2011 is the primary legislation which gives government the powers to amend the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015, which set minimum energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector. Government has launched a consultation on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector on 7^th February 2025.

The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero announced on 23 September 2024 that the Government will consult on our plans to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards for social rented homes. The Government will publish a consultation on introducing minimum energy efficiency standards for the social rented sector in due course. This could take social homes out of fuel poverty, cutting energy bills by making homes cheaper to heat. A minimum energy efficiency standard for the social rented sector would form part of the Decent Homes Standard.

I thank the noble Baroness for her Question and for all the work that she does on environmental issues. The Future Homes Standard consultation, setting out proposals for new energy efficiency standards, closed last year. We received over 2,000 responses and we are carefully considering the feedback received. I do understand that the space caused by the election has caused more delay than we had hoped for, and the frustration and the need for creating some certainty here about what we are going to do going ahead. But we will publish

our government response to the consultation and lay the associated legislation later this year. Those new standards will effectively preclude the use of gas boilers in future new-build homes and ensure they become zero carbon as the electricity grid fully decarbonises, without the need for any retrofitting.

The pension industry stakeholder roundtables planned this spring will explore interpretations of fiduciary duty in relation to climate change and responsible investments. Following these the Department will ensure a briefing session is held in which interested Parliamentarians will have the opportunity to provide insight and discuss the conclusions drawn from these events.

This Government is working to improve quality and standards in social housing. Last month the Government launched a consultation on Awaab’s law, which includes timescales for repair work in social housing. That consultation is available here Awaab’s Law: Consultation on timescales for repairs in the social rented sector. We will shortly launch a consultation on improving energy efficiency standards in social housing.

We are pleased that many social housing providers are working towards improving the energy efficiency of their homes, and we continue to support the improvement of energy efficiency in the sector through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).

We want to see more social homes that are safer, more decent, with cheaper energy bills and more energy efficiency.

The Government welcomes the work of the Financial Markets Law Committee’s working group. Working with the Pensions Regulator, we will look closely at what insights we can draw from their report as we gather further evidence on how trustees are considering ESG factors in their approach to investment in the interests of their members.

This report is a useful resource for trustees, but we are keen to hear views from across the pension sector and wider stakeholders as to what further clarification, or guidance, if any, is needed. We plan to do this starting with a series of roundtable events this spring.

The Government welcomes the work of the Financial Markets Law Committee’s working group. Working with the Pensions Regulator, we will look closely at what insights we can draw from their report as we gather further evidence on how trustees are considering ESG factors in their approach to investment in the interests of their members.

This report is a useful resource for trustees, but we are keen to hear views from across the pension sector and wider stakeholders as to what further clarification, or guidance, if any, is needed. We plan to do this starting with a series of roundtable events this spring.

The Government is considering the views of stakeholders in business, civil society, and Parliament and will inform Parliament of the outcome in due course.