I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Brinton for summarising Amendment 254, which is in my name and supported by her. I shall speak to that and to Amendment 261. As my noble friend just said, there is a real concern about fires, particularly in high-rise buildings. Sadly, the statistics show that the number of fires in such buildings is rising year on year, with more than 350 having taken place in the last year for which figures are available.
We also know more generally that more than 50% of fires in such buildings and others are caused by electricity. In some cases, it is as a result of faulty electrical installations—which is why, earlier this morning, I moved an amendment to ensure that all such installations should have a safety check every five years—but sometimes they are caused by faulty electrical appliances. The Grenfell Tower fire, the great tragedy which led so much to the Bill before us, was caused by a faulty fridge-freezer; the Shepherds Court fire was caused by a faulty tumble-dryer and the Lakanal House fire by a faulty TV. It is vital that when customers purchase an electrical appliance, they know that it is safe.
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However, as my noble friend pointed out, when an electrical appliance is purchased in a shop, the shopkeeper has the responsibility to ensure its safety but, bizarrely, there is currently no similar requirement for online marketplaces to take responsibility for the safety of appliances sold on them. That is leading to a worrying situation. Research by Electrical Safety First and by the Office for Product Safety and Standards has found a worrying number of non-compliant electrical appliances available for purchase in online marketplaces. Electrical Safety First has repeatedly found available on such sites appliances, such as tumble dryers and washing machines, that have already been recalled by the manufacturer due to concerns about the risk of overheating and fire.
This is not a small problem—indeed, with the growth in online shopping, it is a growing one—so there is an urgent need to bring the protections that already apply to purchases of electrical appliances made in shops to those purchased online, and that is what Amendment 254 seeks to achieve. It echoes concerns pf the National Audit Office, which has talked of gaps in regulators’ power to regulate online marketplaces, and concerns by the Public Accounts Committee, which has pointed out that
“under current legislation, online marketplaces are not responsible for the safety of products sold by third parties on their platforms.”
The Government also appear to agree that action is needed. In an answer to a House of Commons Written Parliamentary Question, the Minister there said:
“The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products can be sold in the UK.”
The Minister here wrote to me regarding this matter following the debate in Committee, and I thank him for his letter. He stated that it is
“the Government’s intention to bring forward proposals for consultation later this year”.
The noble Baroness, Lady Bloomfield, who I am pleased to see in her place, wrote to the chief executive of Electrical Safety First setting out a similar timetable and saying that the Government
“recognises that unsafe electrical appliances may have effects beyond their immediate location, including properties and inhabitants.”
That of course applies especially to high-rise buildings.
There lies the nub of the matter. Why are we delaying until a consultation later this year and then waiting for the responses to that consultation? A great deal of time will pass before any decision, and I fear that when we eventually get around to plugging the loophole the dangers may already have occurred.
I am not the only one who is pressing for more immediate action from the Government. Last November, numerous organisations wrote to the Secretary of State. They included the National Fire Chiefs Council, Which?, individual fire brigades, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances, Electrical Safety First, the British Toy and Hobby Association and the Child Accident Prevention Trust. All those organisations wrote to the Business Secretary saying:
“It is critical that reforms are delivered at pace to prevent further lives being put at risk from dangerous products sold online. Consumers deserve equal protections regardless of whether they are shopping on an online marketplace or on the high street.”
I hope the noble Baroness will tell us that not only are we going to have a consultation but we are going to do it as swiftly as possible—or, better still, that she is prepared to accept the amendment.
As the Minister knows, Amendment 261 is a hobby-horse of mine that I have been raising in your Lordships’ Chamber for the past five years. I believe passionately that there is an urgent need to improve the amount of home insulation in the country. On every occasion I have spoken, I have acknowledged that this and previous Governments have done a great deal in this area, so I hope the response to this debate from the Minister will not merely reiterate all the things that are currently taking place, because I acknowledge and welcome them. We know there is real benefit in doing this because, by improving home energy insulation, we will cut the demand for gas, reduce energy bills, slash emissions and so on. As the Government’s own document, the Heat and Buildings Strategy, says, low-carbon buildings are clearly beneficial to consumers. They are smarter and better-performing, with reduced energy bills in a healthier, more comfortable environment.
So a lot is being done, but more is needed. Interestingly, the Government have a set of targets to achieve more. The purpose of this amendment is merely to enshrine the Government’s targets in legislation, for reasons that I will come to.
Currently, 13 million households in this country do not achieve what is considered the acceptable standard of EPC band C. The Government have set themselves the clear target in their energy White Paper, and in many ministerial Answers, of getting all homes to EPC band C by 2035. That is vital.
The Government also recognise that, in some cases—the more than 3 million homes that are considered to be in fuel poverty—the work should be done even more quickly and have set themselves the target of achieving band C for those homes by 2030. That is important because, as we know from all the figures, too many people are dying in this country because
they live in homes that are too cold and they have had to choose between heating and eating. We now know that that situation will get far worse because of the steep rise in energy bills. The latest estimates suggest that 8,500 lives were lost in one winter just because of homes being too cold.
I passionately believe that we will do everything we can to ensure the Government achieve their targets. The best way of doing that is by placing those targets in legislation, in exactly the same way the Government believe it is important to put their climate change targets in legislation: it will help ensure the work is carried out.
There are two other reasons why these targets are important: first, they will ensure that it is harder for a subsequent Government to kick those targets into the long grass; and secondly, we have to understand that it is not the Government that will be doing the work. It will be done by the energy-efficiency industry, which is desperately keen to have those targets put into the legislation. Over 100 businesses, including Mitsubishi, Vaillant, Worcester Bosch and many others have written to the Secretary of State saying that they want these statutory targets placed in the legislation. On previous occasions, warm home schemes of one sort of another have been ditched and the industry has been let down. They therefore need the confidence of these targets in legislation, so that they are prepared to invest in the equipment, training and skills uplift that are necessary to get the work done.
In responding, I hope the Minister does not just give us a list of all the wonderful things the Government are doing, but acknowledges that the industry wants this to happen, above all. I can see no earthly reason why the Government cannot put their own targets into legislation. It would be no difficulty for them whatsoever, because I assume they genuinely want to achieve these targets, so I hope they accept this Amendment 261.
I have two amendments in this group. The first relates to the safety of electrical appliances purchased online, where there is currently no security for the purchaser. The second is a simple amendment to put the Government’s own targets into legislation.