The report follows the government's announced plans to devolve a range of powers to Greater Manchester, other city regions and some county councils covering rural areas, with research comprising in-depth interviews with 40 expert stakeholders, five workshops and a survey of 70 local authorities.
The central recommendation of the report is that:
For more information and to download the full report, visit:The UK government should give local authorities in England responsibility for overseeing the delivery of home energy retrofits to low income and fuel poor households, as is already the case in Scotland.
Councils should be free to choose the methods through which they and their partners meet this responsibility. The UK government should underpin the responsibility with a resourced statutory duty on councils in England, while the Scottish government should continue to use the existing concordat between the government and local authorities to oversee local delivery. In Wales, the Welsh Government could use the existing arrangements for delivering Arbed to oversee the new funds. The UK government should also make sure consumers have access to free local energy advice, both specialist and generalist, as a key component of the new delivery arrangements.
The UK government should raise funds for the new delivery arrangements through a levy on domestic energy bills. This should partially or fully replace the current supplier obligation model. The UK government should allocate most of the funds automatically to local authorities, based on need in the local area. It should allocate the remainder via a competition open to all interested organisations, to foster improved delivery practice and efficiency.
http://www.ukace.org/2015/06/closer-to- ... -services/
