asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether manufacturers of components for house building have to conform to household security standards when designing energy-efficient windows and door furniture. [HL6073]

Security standards are not required in energy-efficient doors and windows for the purposes of the building regulations. However, where building to standards specified by the Housing Corporation or English Partnerships, or if specifying windows in order to comply with specific requirements of the code for sustainable homes, security features may be a consideration.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What action they will take up to 2016 to reduce the carbon output of new homes. [HL6174]

The Government set out their target for all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016 in the Building a Greener Future policy statement issued in July 2007 (www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/building_ greener.pdf). The target will be achieved through progressive tightening of the building regulations—by 25 per cent (relative to 2006 regulations) in 2010, 44 per cent in 2013 and then zero carbon in 2016. A consultation paper on the detailed definition of zero carbon new homes is due to be issued shortly.

The 2016 taskforce (jointly chaired by the Minister of Housing and the chief executive of the Home Builders Federation) meets regularly to oversee implementation of the zero carbon new homes policy. The industry has set up a delivery body, the Zero Carbon Hub, which was launched earlier this year to help identify and tackle barriers to delivery and to engage with industry and other organisations which will be responsible for delivery. Further information about the Hub can be found at its website at www.zerocarbonhub.org.

In addition to changes to the building regulations, the code for sustainable homes is intended to guide industry in the design and construction of sustainable homes. It sets out standards, which are above the regulatory minimum, for the sustainability of a house as a whole, including, energy, water, materials, waste and ecology. The rating of all new homes against the code became mandatory from 1 May 2008. Homes that are built on English Partnerships' land need to build to at least code level 3 and homes that are designed and built with funding from the National Affordable Housing Programme need to be built to code level 3.

The Government are encouraging a range of exemplar developments of different sizes and types which demonstrate low-carbon technologies. These include eco-towns, the Thames Gateway and, on a smaller scale, English Partnerships’ Carbon Challenge. Our planning policies on climate change, including the new planning policy statement on climate change, expect new development to be planned to limit carbon dioxide emissions and sustainability appraisal to be used to shape planning strategies that help achieve this.