Government's Green Deal scheme has "a long way to go" Mr Barker said that there was "a long way to go" with the scheme, which had been slowed down by computer issues and legal contracts. "You have to see this in the context of a twenty year programme," he said. Under the scheme, launched six months ago, householders are encouraged to take out loans to cover the cost of making their homes more energy-efficient, by installing modern boilers and better insulation. New figures showed today that not a single household is currently benefiting from the Government's flagship Green Deal with only four plans imminently "pending." Mr Barker said that it was "very early days" for the scheme. We are starting to pull together a supply chain capable of delivering this. However, he said that he expected that there would be tweaks to the system, making it less bureaucratic for customers. Critics say that the loan scheme is too expensive, with interest rates of a typical 6.96pc, while installers have been plagued with computer problems. However, Mr Barker said that the scheme had not been up and running for long enough to see whether applicants had been put off by high interest rates, and that this would become more apparent as more providers joined the scheme.