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10 Sep 2007 : Column 2037W—continued
Nuclear Power
Chris Huhne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the cost was of civil nuclear reactors generating electricity in the last year for which figures are available; and how much of that sum was accounted for by the cost of (a) maintenance, (b) staff salaries, (c) security, (d) transport of radioactive materials, (e) radioactive
waste removal, (f) radioactive waste storage, (g) purchasing nuclear fuel, (h) radioactive accidents, (i) non-radioactive accidents and (j) accident insurance. [151936]
Malcolm Wicks: As regards British Energy, the company’s accounts for the financial year 2006-07 show operating costs as follows:
Nuclear fuel costs, consisting of the costs of procurement of uranium, conversion and enrichment services and fuel element fabrication (front end) and the costs of reprocessing, long-term storage and eventual disposal of the resulting waste products (back end), full provision is also made for the projected back end costs of unburnt fuel at station closure): £278 million
Materials and services costs, comprising the operating expenses of all power stations and support functions (including station maintenance and insurance costs): £562 million
Staff costs across the whole of British Energy, totalling an average of 5,939 employees (4,148 at nuclear stations, 275 at Eggborough, and 1,516 in engineering, technical and corporate support): £374 million.
As regards the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the total cost of civil nuclear reactors generating electricity in the financial year 2006-07 was £273.17 million. This is broken down as follows:
| £ million | |
The NDA purchases its accident insurance through an insurance programme which, subject to policy terms and conditions, covers all of its sites. This includes sites which generate electricity from nuclear power such as Oldbury and Wylfa; sites which generate electricity by other means such as Maentwrog (hydro); fuel fabrication sites such as Springfields; sites that are now in decommissioning such as Trawsfynydd, Hunterston and Chapelcross; multi-activity sites such as Sellafield; and finally non-nuclear administrative sites such as offices. Insurers give no premium breakdown across the sites in the NDA estate. The total premium including insurance premium tax for all classes of insurance across all NDA sites was £25.5 million for financial year 2006-07. The NDA estimate between 7.5 per cent. and 17.5 per cent. of this is allocated to sites which generated electricity from nuclear power.
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he expects to receive the respective reports on (a) plutonium and uranium and (b) spent nuclear fuel management options commissioned from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority by his predecessor Department; and what opportunity there will be for stakeholders and independent experts to comment on the reports. [152279]
Malcolm Wicks: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority gave a commitment in its strategy to assess the options for managing uranic materials, as well as the full life cycle implications of spent fuel management. A report entitled ‘Uranium and Plutonium Macro-Economic Study’ was published on the NDA's website (www.nda.gov.uk) on 2 July 2007 and is available to stakeholders for comment. A report on ‘Spent Fuel Management Options’ is in the course of preparation and will be available in the autumn. Stakeholders and independent experts contributed to the development of the reports through the NDA's ‘Materials Issue Group’ which is a sub-group of the NDA's National Stakeholder Group.
Overseas Trade: Russia
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the net value was of (a) imports from Russia to the UK and (b) exports from the UK to Russia in the latest year for which figures are available. [151549]
Mr. Thomas: Table 9.3 of the ONS “Balance of Payments Pink Book 2007” shows UK imports of goods and services from Russia to have been worth about £6,492 million in 2006 and UK exports of goods and services to Russia to have been worth about £3,427 million.
Post Offices
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to publish his response to the Post Office network consultation which closed on 8 March. [152760]
Mr. Timms: The Government published their final proposals for the future of the post office network on 17 May in response to the public consultation.
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on which dates his Department instigated consultations on post offices in the last five years; what the consultation period was in each case; and which regions were covered in each case. [154821]
Mr. McFadden: On 14 December 2006, the Government initiated a 12 week national public consultation on its proposals for the Post Office network. The consultation period ended on 8 March 2007 and the Government provided a response on 17 May.
Post Offices: Scotland
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many post offices there were in Scotland at the end of March 2007. [153010]
Mr. Timms: I understand that the number of Post Office branches in Scotland reported by Post Office Ltd. at the end of March 2007 was 1651.
Post Offices: Yorkshire and Humberside
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what plans he has for the post office network in Batley and Spen. [152733]
Mr. Timms: The Government published their final proposals for the future of the post office network on 17 May in response to the public consultation. Post Office Ltd. now has operational responsibility for implementing these measures.
Price Fixing: Alcoholic Drinks
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many complaints his Department has received of alleged price fixing by (a) the brewing industry and (b) companies which own public houses. [150720]
Mr. Timms: Ensuring that markets operate freely and fairly is a matter for the independent competition authorities, rather than for Government. The UK competition framework has established the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as an independent statutory body which is responsible for ensuring that markets operate competitively, and it has the powers to investigate and take action if companies are abusing a dominant position in a market or behaving anti-competitively. Complaints would be directed to the OFT.
The Department currently handles around 50,000 letters a year and approximately 200,000 e-mails on a wide range of issues. Further breakdown in the form requested is not available.
Regional Development Agencies: Public Appointments
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform who the board members are of each regional development agency; and what the (a) political affiliation and (b) biography is of each. [153739]
Mr. Timms: All the names of appointments and re-appointments for the RDA Boards (except for the London Development Agency where appointments are made by the Mayor) are announced in Parliament as a matter of course and this information is stored with their biographies in the Library.
Some information regarding the political activity of board members is obtained during the appointment and re-appointment process but is currently not available in the Library. This information is included in all press notices released when appointments or re-appointments are announced.
However, the political activity information that can be requested is restricted by the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments and does not cover information about membership of political parties or voting preferences.
Regional Development Agencies: Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the names are of trade union representatives appointed to each regional development agency. [153417]
Mr. Timms: The current trade union representatives appointed to the regional development agencies are as follows:
1. Advantage West Midlands—Gerard Coyne
2. East of England Regional Development Agency—Karen Livingstone
3. East Midlands Development Agency—Neville Jackson
4. North West Regional Development Agency—Dave McCall
5. ONE North East—Kevin Rowan
6. South East Development Agency—Phil Wood
7. South West Regional Development Agency—Nigel Costley
8. Yorkshire Forward—Stella Guy
9. London Development Agency—Mick Connolly.
Renewable Energy
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps he has taken to promote the generation of renewable energy locally by individuals and communities. [150606]
Malcolm Wicks: We published the Government's strategy for the promotion of microgeneration in March 2006. We are implementing the range of financial and non-financial support measures it outlines, including providing grants for the installation of microgeneration technologies by individuals and communities among others. Further information on the programme can be found at:
The Energy White Paper reinforces our commitment to the microgeneration strategy, and also includes measures to remove barriers to the more widespread use of distributed energy.
In addition, we have provided funding to the sustainable energy network pilot scheme since 2005. Through three advice centres in England and Northern Ireland, we have been promoting renewable energy locally in the following ways:
providing effective advice and support resource for householders;
facilitating the development of the supply chain; and,
helping to develop local partnerships and networks both at an individual and community level.
Further information on the pilot scheme can be found at:
Renewable Energy: Government Assistance
Harry Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what grants, loans or other assistance is available to homeowners for renewable energy installation in their homes; whether local authorities will be required to provide assistance to homeowners for such
installations; what incentive is proposed for landlords, including social landlords, to arrange for such installations; and if he will make a statement. [150282]
Malcolm Wicks: The Low Carbon Buildings Programme with a budget of £86 million over three years provides capital grants for the installation of microgeneration to households, schools, social and local authority housing, businesses, charities and the public sector. Further information on the programme can be found at:
In addition, local authorities and regional development agencies have a key role to facilitate and support the uptake of microgeneration technologies through their powers and responsibilities for planning and regeneration. Further information can be found in the Heat and Distributed Generation chapter of the Energy White Paper, May 2007 at:
Renewable Energy: Incentives
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what incentives his Department has put in place to encourage consumers to switch to renewable energy sources. [150608]
Malcolm Wicks: The Low Carbon Buildings Programme with a budget of £86 million over three years provides capital grants for the installation of microgeneration to households, schools, social and local authority housing, businesses, charities and the public sector. Further information on the programme can be found at:
The Government also place a requirement on all licensed electricity suppliers to supply a specific and annually increasing proportion of their sales from sources of renewable energy. Suppliers who fail to meet their obligation in this way have, instead, to make a payment of £34.30 for each MWh of electricity which they do not supply from renewable sources. This obligation means that consumers will, to some degree depending on how their supplier is meeting their obligation, already be consuming electricity from renewable sources.
The Government recognise the need for transparency to allow consumers to make informed decisions when considering whether to switch to a green tariff and both Ofgem and the Energy Savings Trust have recently published consultations on this issue.
Research Council: Finance
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform with reference to his recent letter to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak, how much of the £68 million taken from unspent funds in the Research Council was spent to meet expenditure on (a) the restructuring of British Energy, (b) meeting the shortfall in EU structural funds, (c) the collapse of MG Rover and (d) increased spend on the technology programme and space projects. [148732]
Mr. Thomas: The transfer (from current and historical underspends in the science budget) was necessitated by and used to meet an overall shortfall in DTI non-science budgets. The shortfall arose because of unforeseen pressures on the non-science budget (including those mentioned) in the context of a very tight DTI settlement (excluding science) from Spending Review 2004.
The transfer was considered only once all other options in the non-science budgets had been exhausted. This included managing down pressures and making wide-ranging cuts in other areas.
The funding released by these measures, alongside the transfer of money from science, was used to fund the remaining non-science pressures. It is not possible to determine the division of the transfer of funds from science between the examples mentioned. This is not how budgets are allocated or managed.
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