Only 47,500 homes were upgraded under the government's flawed Green Homes Grant scheme – less than 10% of the planned 600,000 – at a cost to the taxpayer of a £50m. Chair Dame Meg Hillier called it a “slank dunk fail” and was alarmed at the seeming lack of thought for how long it would take to train up specialists to actually deliver the government’s ambitions. The Federation of Master Builders’ chief executive Brian Berry agrees, saying: “The scheme was too short-term in outlook. Critically, it did not allow sufficient time for builders to upskill and gain the necessary accreditations...The government needs a National Retrofit Strategy which sets out a clear, long-term plan to upgrade existing homes and would help restore faith in green initiatives.”