The government is set to launch a £2m national communications campaign to promote the Green Deal.
Sources in the industry say the Department of Energy and Climate Change has asked several communications agencies to produce outlines of campaigns that could be produced for between £1m and £2m.
They add that the government expected Green Deal providers and their partners to do most of the marketing for the scheme, but now appears to have had a change of heart. The news comes as chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander announced this week that the Green Deal would be a candidate for support from its £40bn investment guarantees programme.
A report by think tank Green Alliance, published in May, said the government plans for the industry to promote the scheme could result in “multiple, dispersed” campaigns by Green Deal providers which might not establish the same level of demand among consumers as a national campaign initiated by government and funded by industry.
Faye Scott, head of research at Green Alliance, said: “We felt a government voice on this was necessary and relying on dispersed campaigns from all the different Green Deal suppliers who might talk about it in different ways would create a barrier to take up. This won’t solve all the concerns people have about take up but we hope it would make a difference to have a very clear message from government. If you can only get information from people trying to sell you something it is not very helpful for consumers.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said that until recently the government had wanted industry to promote the Green Deal and had been unwilling to spend money on advertising it, but his members felt multiple industry campaigns would confuse consumers. He said: “It is good that they have recognised the need [for a communications campaign]. It is a shame they cannot put more money into it but it is a good start, it gives the Green Deal credibility amongst consumers.”
A spokesman for DECC said: “It will be more broadly a communications campaign. It might cover a few different elements. We definitely won’t have a large-scale advertising campaign for the Green Deal; we do not think at this point in a difficult spending period that that would offer the best value for money.”
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