The Bishop of Norwich received the following written answers on 1st September 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich asked His Majesty’s Government what support will be available to schools to decarbonise following the closure of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
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The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on support for housing associations in building energy efficient homes on 29th January 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I declare my interest as chair of a housing association. Housing associations are a key provider of homes for those who can least afford high energy bills. What support will there be for housing associations when they are bidding for grants to subsidise the properties they are building? It does cost that bit extra, maybe £5,000 or £6,000 per home, to build to the standards that we need to.
Continue reading “Bishop of Manchester asks about support for building energy efficient homes”The Bishop of Norwich spoke in a debate on the costs of renewable energy on 14th November 2024, highlighting the threat to the environment posed by global warming and the global responsibilities associated with transitioning to renewables:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Frost, for securing this debate at the time of COP 29. It is a pleasure as always to follow on from the wise words of the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman. I speak as the lead Bishop for the environment and as a member of Peers for the Planet.
I would like to ensure that there is reflection in this debate on the cost of not embracing renewable energy, especially as a global neighbour. Under even the most optimistic scenarios, the planet will experience warming above 1.5 degrees. The predictions for people and planet are stark. Ours is the generation that simply must move off our reliance on fossil fuels and embrace a new, cleaner, more resilient energy future.
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The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 4th September 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to upgrade three-phase power supply to support British farmers with the uptake of renewables.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about uptake of renewables among British farmers”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 24th July 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of delays in connecting solar farms and wind turbines to the national grid; and what steps they are taking to accelerate this process.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about delays in connecting renewable energy schemes to the national grid”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 20th July 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to simplify the planning process for renewables.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con): Our National Planning Policy Framework is clear that when determining planning applications for renewable and low carbon development, local planning authorities should approve the application if its impacts are (or can be made) acceptable.
In addition, powers in our Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will enable us to create a more consistent, streamlined and digitally enabled approach to planning applications. When utilised with existing powers, this will enable us to create an end-to-end system which is faster and more accessible to communities.
The Bishop of Oxford asked a question on the government’s heat and buildings strategy, and whether the government planned to change the target date for banning the installation of gas boilers in new build homes, on 28th February 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Oxford: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of progress on their Heat and Buildings Strategy, published on 19 October 2021; and whether they have any plans to change the date of 2025 for banning the installation of gas boilers in new-build homes.
Continue reading “Bishop of Oxford asks about gas boilers in new build homes”On 9th June 2022, the Bishop of St Albans spoke in a debate on the escalating cost of living:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I too want to thank the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, for his excellent introduction to the debate. I was not going to say much about social capital. Like others, I was brought up on Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone and reading his excellent work. I notice that the noble Lord’s analysis was very much on the economic aspect. From my perspective of having responsibility for over 400 churches across two counties, the voluntary aspect is also an important part of that work.
One of the things that I have observed over the last 40 years is that the decline in social capital is due to a whole lot of reasons, which we really ought to debate in this House, including things such as the Government’s attempts to professionalise volunteers. It has become increasingly difficult to find people to help. As an organisation that is running numerous food banks, debt advice centres, lunch clubs and breakfast clubs for children who are not going to get breakfast before school, we are very eager to be part of this, but it has got more difficult for us to deliver it. I must not stay on that too long, or I will be over my time.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans speaks in a debate on the cost of living”The Bishop of St Albans asked a question during a debate on North Sea Oil and Gas Producers: Investment Allowances, on 7th June 2022:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, will the Government, first, reveal the calculations they have made on why we are giving these subsidies, rather than putting the money into renewables? This has come at a time when we have seen massive increases in gas imports. Indeed, if we had done this some years ago, and been able to move and shift much more quickly, we would not be in half the mess we are in now. What is the basis on which the Government are deciding to subsidise the oil, rather than putting this extra financial incentive into renewables?
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The Bishop of Manchester asked the following question on 27th April 2022, during a debate on energy security:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I declare my interest as both a Church Commissioner and a board member of a housing association. As things stand, a community with local renewable generation is not allowed to sell the energy it generates directly to local people. Instead, it has to sell it to a utility, which sells it on to customers, creating disproportionate costs. Moreover, community-level generation could be further promoted by ensuring that new housing developments include green energy or even a requirement that they place no increased demand on the grid by generating more of their energy needs. The Bible assures us that the sun shines on both the righteous and the unrighteous. Indeed, I can assure the Minister that it does so even in my notoriously rainy city of Manchester. Can he outline what will be done to promote greater take-up of community energy generation programmes?
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