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13 Mar 2008 : Column 617W—continued
The large differences between 1994-95 and 1995-96 and between 1997-98 and 1998-99 for Kent county council are as result of local authority re-organisation.
Central Government revenue funding is defined here as the sum of formula grant (revenue support grant, police grant and redistributed non-domestic rates) and specific grants inside aggregate external finance (AEF), i.e. revenue grants paid for councils' core services. In past years, it also includes the standard spending assessment reduction grant, central support protection grant, council tax benefit subsidy limitation scheme.
Figures exclude grants outside AEF (i.e. where funding is not for authorities’ core services, but is passed to a third party, for example, rent allowances and rebates), capital grants, funding for the local authorities’ housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
The amount of capital grants provided to local authorities by central Government is not available. Funding of supported borrowing is included indistinguishably in revenue funding given in the aforementioned table.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much of phase 2 of the low carbon buildings programme budget (a) has been allocated in grants and (b) is available, broken down by funding stream. [187272]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 22 February 2008]: Phase 2 of the low carbon buildings programme has a grant budget of £48 million available through one funding stream.
As of 21 February, £7,813,051.06 had been allocated. Therefore £40,186,948.94 remains available to potential applicants. My Department is currently taking forward work to increase uptake.
Statistics on grant allocation for phase 2 of the low carbon buildings programme are updated daily and are available from the scheme’s website at:
Low Carbon Buildings Programme: Finance
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many and what proportion of grants and how much and what proportion of grant money initially committed under phase one of the low carbon buildings programme prior to April 2007 has not been taken up; and if he will make a statement. [192968]
Malcolm Wicks: Prior to April 2007, we had committed £8,027,264 to 5,062 household projects through the low carbon buildings programme, of which £2,163,367 (27 per cent. of value) to 1,929 (38 per cent. of applications) have not been taken up.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme: Advertising
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much the Department has spent on advertising grants available to households under phase one of the low carbon buildings programme; and if he will make a statement. [193015]
Malcolm Wicks: Since the launch of the low carbon buildings programme phase 1 in April 2006, we have spent approximately £82,000 on advertising the householder grants through our programme contractors, the Energy Saving Trust. This work includes the development of the www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk website, presentations at industry events, and marketing activities through the use of the EST advice network and market segmentation models to target those that are most likely to install microgeneration technologies and apply for grants.
This does not take into account the work that my officials have done, which includes developing web pages with other Government Departments and industry at:
www. sharp. co.uk/page/solarhowtobuy
We also raised awareness at a national and regional level through the issuing of a press release in December 2007 that focussed on the low carbon buildings programme.
Microgeneration
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the number of homes in (a) Eastbourne constituency, (b) East Sussex and (c) the UK in which heat producing microgeneration systems have been installed in the last 10 years. [192127]
Malcolm Wicks: We commissioned a report in 2005, estimating that there were approximately 82,000 microgeneration installations in the UK, of which 80,156 were heat producing microgeneration systems. However, we are not able to provide a breakdown for the number of homes in Eastbourne or East Sussex.
We are currently commissioning further research to provide up-to-date estimates.
Mining: Compensation
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many claims under the coal compensation scheme (a) have been settled and (b) remain to be settled. [192675]
Malcolm Wicks: As at March 2008, the Department has received 591,755 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease claims (COPD). Of these, 516,163 claims have been settled, leaving 75,592 outstanding.
The Department has also received 169,612 vibration white finger claims (VWF). Of these, 164,137 have been settled, leaving 5,475 to be settled.
We are working towards substantial completion of the schemes. For VWF, it is anticipated that around 300 claims will be outstanding by September 2008. For respiratory disease claims, a similar position is anticipated by summer 2009.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: Finance
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what proportion of his Department's (a) annual budget and (b) end-of-year flexibility funding was allocated to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in 2007-08. [192819]
Mr. Thomas: For the financial year 2007-08, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) represents 44 per cent. of the Department's total annual DEL (departmental expenditure limit) budget. Of the total available stock of the Department's end year flexibility at the time of this year's spring supplementary estimate, 43 per cent. was drawn down and allocated to NDA for 2007-08.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what discussions his officials, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), and contractors for the NDA, have had with representatives of the United States Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory in respect of potential future collaboration on advanced reprocessing techniques. [192821]
Malcolm Wicks: There have been no such discussions.
Office of National Statistics: Finance
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much funding is provided by regional development agencies to support the Office for National Statistics' regional operations; and if he will make a statement. [193704]
Mr. McFadden: The RDAs have collectively provided £940,000 in 2007-08 to support the ONS' regional operations.
Oil: Prices
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2008, Official Report, columns 2263-64W, on oil: prices, what (a) methodology was adopted and (b) factors were taken into account, in producing assumptions for future oil prices, with particular reference to the forecast for oil prices between 2010 and 2020. [193038]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 10 March 2008]: The oil assumptions used by the Government for their analytical work are formulated through a consultation process. The consultation is available on the Department's website (http://www.berr.gov.uk/energy/environment/projections/index.html) and is open to anyone who wants to participate. As part of the consultation, industry experts and analysts across the Government are consulted, and information from a number of sources, including the International Energy Agency, are used. Factors such as the global demand and supply projections, price growth rate, etc. are considered in arriving at the oil assumptions.
Post Office: Expenditure
Michael Jabez Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2008, Official Report, column 1205W, on post office: expenditure, when the managing director of Post Office Ltd will reply to the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye. [193568]
Mr. McFadden: I understand that the managing director of Post Office Limited will reply shortly.
Regional Development Agencies
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which regional development agency (RDA) board members declare their main residence to be within the region of the RDA on whose board they sit. [193297]
Mr. McFadden: Out of the total of 120 RDA board members, including chairs, 115 members declared their main residence to be within the region of the RDA on whose board they sit. This amounts to approximately 95 per cent. of all members. These figures exclude the London Development Agency as this is under the control of the Mayor for London.
Regional Development Agencies: Derelict Land
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many hectares of brownfield land were (a) reclaimed and (b) redeveloped by regional development agencies in the last year for which figures are available; what the value of that land was; and what percentage has since been (i) leased and (ii) sold to businesses. [193705]
Mr. McFadden: The RDAs have reclaimed and/or redeveloped a total of 894.60 hectares of brownfield land in 2006-07. The following table shows the amount of brownfield land, which RDAs have been involved in bringing back into use in 2006-07. These figures have been laid before Parliament in the RDA year-end outputs for 2006-07.
Most of the RDA brownfield land outputs are secured via grant funding to other organisations to carry out projects which bring land back into use. On this basis the RDAs hold no data on the value of such land, or whether it has been leased or sold.
| Hectares of brownfield land reclaimed and/or redeveloped 2006-07( 1) | |
| RDAs | |
| (1) RDAs do not record whether the land is "reclaimed or redeveloped". Rather they record in their year-end outputs how match land has been brought back into use. (2) A shortfall against SEED A's brownfield land remediation targets in 2006-07 was caused by delays with delivery of some projects, which will create a surplus against the target range in 2007-08. | |
Renewable Energy
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the electricity generating capacity of installed I wind power, (b) solar photovoltaics and (c) geothermal technologies in the UK was in each of the last five years (i) in total and (ii) broken down by region; and if he will make a statement. [192945]
Malcolm Wicks: The available information is as shown in the following table. Regional data on a consistent basis are not available before 2003. In 2006 Scotland had 48 per cent. of the capacity to generate from wind, Wales had 18 per cent., the north west of England 7Â1/2 per cent., the east of England 6 per cent. and Northern Ireland 5Â1/2 per cent with the remaining 15 per cent. shared between the other seven English regions. While the overall growth in the capacity to generate from wind between 2003 and 2006 was 163 per cent. some regions experienced very big increases because they began from very low levels while increases in other regions were more modest.
| Installed capacity of sites generating electricity from wind and solar photovoltaics, 2003 to 2006( 1) | ||||
| MW | ||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1) At the end of December each year. (2 )Data cannot be shown because of the small number of sites providing information for these cells. Instead the data are included under “other sites” (see note (4)). (3 )Nil or less than half the final digit shown. (4 )“Other sites” are sites that have not been attributed to a region so that data related to individual companies are not disclosed. (5 )Not available (6) Includes 0.5 MW of shoreline wave. (7) The solar photovoltaics figure for 2006 was revised in December 2007. Note: Components may not add exactly to totals because of rounding. Sources: Energy Trends September 2007, pages 16 to 25. Tables 2, 5a, 6a and 7a of 'Renewable energy in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the regions of England in 2006'. | ||||
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