Weekly Policy Update |
up to Friday 9th May 2025

Information provided by National Constructing Excellence

The Environmental Audit Committee publishes a report on the role of natural capital in the green economy

The Environmental Audit Committee published a report on the role of natural capital in the green economy. The report welcomes the government’s shift to a natural capital approach but stated that investment schemes such as biodiversity net gain are still at an early stage. Additionally, voluntary nature credit markets lack sufficient demand, and stronger regulations are needed to ensure high-quality nature credits and prevent poor-quality offerings. The report also states a comprehensive land-use framework is missing, and uncertainty around policies like biodiversity net gain threatens market confidence.

DESNZ opens a consultation on a proposed target level for Year 2 of the Clean Heat Market Mechanism

The Clean Heat Market Mechanism is designed to promote heat pump uptake: it is an obligation on the manufacturers of fossil fuel boilers to sell a number of heat pumps proportionate to their overall sales. The current target level for year one is 6% of relevant boiler sales. This week DESNZ opened a consultation on year two of the Clean Heat Market Mechanism on a proposed target level and whether to name the Microgeneration Certification Scheme as the sole certification scheme for the mechanism.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill’s impact assessment shows the Bill could benefit the economy by up to £7.5bn over the next 10 years

MHCLG published the Planning and Infrastructure Bill’s impact assessment which includes higher, central and lower estimates for how much money the Bill could add to the economy over 10 years. The highest estimate was up to £7.5bn, the central estimate was £3.2bn, and the lower estimate was £1.3bn. The government adds that the assessment does not account for recent amendments to the Bill to overhaul the pre-application stage for critical infrastructure, which, government analysis suggests, will add another £1bn over this parliament. See the Guardian’s coverage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in the media section below.

The government announces the cyber sector as a prime target for economic growth in the upcoming Industrial Strategy

The government announced that the cyber sector will be a prime target for economic growth in the upcoming Industrial Strategy. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said that boosting the sector will deliver the double dividend of home-grown jobs and protecting growth in other sectors. The cyber sector holds 67,000 jobs, and revenues now top £13bn – up 12% year on year. Additionally, the Laboratory for AI Security Research will receive an additional £7m of government funding and announce a new partnership with technology leader Cisco.

In the news

Ministers look at trimming back home insulation pledge – The Financial Times

The Financial Times reports that the government’s pledge to spend an extra £6.6bn on insulating millions of homes is under scrutiny after the Treasury declined to say whether the promise still stood ahead of the spending review next month. The total extra funding for the Warm Homes Plan would have been spent over the course of the five-year parliament, however Whitehall officials said ministers had been assessing whether they could trim the scheme as part of the review of all departmental expenditure, which will conclude in early June. The Treasury has currently allocated £3.4bn across three years, in the form of grants and low-interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low-carbon heating to cut bills.

UK government admits almost no evidence nature protections block development– The Guardian

The Guardian has published an article discussing the government’s impact assessment of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Ministers say the new bill will speed up housing developments and large infrastructure projects by allowing developers to avoid meeting environmental obligations to protect habitats and species by paying into a central nature recovery fund which will be used to create environmental improvement elsewhere. Officials attempted to examine the impact of one environmental obligation, nutrient neutrality, on building delays but found limited data on how environmental obligations affect development. Robert Oates, CEO and founder of the ecological consultancy Arbtech, argued that by the government’s own admission it has “very limited” data on how environmental obligations impact planning and is “paving the way for ecological destruction”. Other articles related to the Bill from the Guardian include the Swiftbrick campaign for endangered cavity nesting birds and a letter by Ben Kite which criticises the planning and infrastructure bill for its negative environmental impact.

Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) to fund £400,000 Energy Transition Skills Hub – PBC Today

PBC Today reports that the Energy Transition Skills Hub in Aberdeen, launched in September 2023, will receive £400,000 from the ECITB to equip a modern welding academy with 32 bays. This funding is part of the ECITB’s investment in Regional Skills Hubs and will support the clean energy transition. The project has already secured £4.5m from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund, £2.3m from Energy Transition Zone Ltd, and £500,000 from North East Scotland College. Located next to Aberdeen Altens Campus, the hub will offer flexible courses and a mobile outreach vehicle, aiming to train 15,000 students annually.

Coming up next week

Tuesday 13 May: There will be a Westminster Hall Debate on the reform of the standard method for assessing local housing need.

Wednesday 14 May: There will be a Westminster Hall Debate on future new towns.

CE ACTIVITIES

May

Procurement Group CE Procurement Group meeting – May – BRE Group Events

19th May

Climate Action Constructing Excellence Climate Action Group- May – BRE Group Events

21^st May

June

Performance Measurement CE Performance Measurement – June – BRE Group Events

Thursday 5th June