There is now a little less than two months until the Green Deal consultation is due to be launched. That's not a lot of time. As someone with some experience of the inner workings of Government Departments, I can only presume that the writing of the consultation document must be well advanced if it is to have time to clear through DECC ministers and other departments before it's published. This means that DECC must be pretty sure of where it's going with the policy. Maybe this should be reassuring, but it is not. I meet with experts every day who remain unsure of what the Government is going to propose in all sorts of areas of the scheme. While this could just be a communications issue, it suggests to me that the policy is still being written in relative isolation and secrecy, away from the eyes of those with the knowlede and practical experience (and the hard-nosed commerical interest) to make it work.
The fact that apparently the consultation is being written alongside the production of the draft regulations, further strengthens the impression that (as is ususally the case with such things) the details of the scheme are already relatively fixed in the minds of ministers and officials, and there is little that 'negative' responses to the proposals will do to change them.
Now I am an optimist. I think that the Green Deal, if properly designed with genuine and open consultation, can be a success (even if it will never be the panacea that Government - Greg Barker in particular - would have us believe). I, like all of my peers, also desperately want the scheme to succeed. Reducing the emissions from our old and leaky homes here in the UK is absolutely essential if we are to reduce carbon emissions, fight rising energy costs and fuel poverty, and improve the UK's fuel security. But unless DECC considers opening up its doors a little wider, and - dare I say it - pushing back the start date for the scheme to allow for more meaningful dialogue with the industry and other experts, I can't help but think the GD may be doomed to achieve little.
The fact that apparently the consultation is being written alongside the production of the draft regulations, further strengthens the impression that (as is ususally the case with such things) the details of the scheme are already relatively fixed in the minds of ministers and officials, and there is little that 'negative' responses to the proposals will do to change them.
Now I am an optimist. I think that the Green Deal, if properly designed with genuine and open consultation, can be a success (even if it will never be the panacea that Government - Greg Barker in particular - would have us believe). I, like all of my peers, also desperately want the scheme to succeed. Reducing the emissions from our old and leaky homes here in the UK is absolutely essential if we are to reduce carbon emissions, fight rising energy costs and fuel poverty, and improve the UK's fuel security. But unless DECC considers opening up its doors a little wider, and - dare I say it - pushing back the start date for the scheme to allow for more meaningful dialogue with the industry and other experts, I can't help but think the GD may be doomed to achieve little.
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