| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
6 Nov 2008 : Column 716W—continued
Royal Parks Agency: Information Officers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press and communications officers are employed by the Royal Parks Agency. [224845]
Barbara Follett: The Royal Parks inform us that they employ 1.25 full time equivalent press/communications officers.
Rural Areas
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in respect of which of his Department's public service agreements rural proofing of departmental policies is stipulated. [230742]
Barbara Follett: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport leads on one cross-Government Public Service Agreement—PSA 22 (Olympics and PE and School Sport). There is no requirement as such for PSAs to be rural proofed, rather the policies and programmes beneath them should be. All new policies, programmes and projects are subject to comprehensive but proportionate impact assessments, including rural-proofing, where appropriate.
Sports: Essex
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding his Department has provided for (a) amateur sports clubs and (b) sport in schools in the West Chelmsford constituency since 1997. [233138]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My Department does not provide any direct funding of grassroots sport; funding is channelled through Sport England. Sport England have advised that they do not hold specific information about grants benefiting amateur sports clubs and sport in schools in West Chelmsford and the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, Sport England can identify the specific projects they have supported in West Chelmsford and Chelmsford local authority. The total value of these awards is £6,273,264 (£5,278,144 lottery funding and £995,120 exchequer funding).
Of this total, some awards were made specifically to amateur sports clubs and sport in schools. The value of these awards is £199,913—£81,694 to amateur sports clubs and £118,219 to schools.
While only a limited number of awards have been identified as being made specifically to amateur sports clubs or schools sports projects, amateur sports clubs
and school sport projects would have benefited significantly from other grants within the overall figures provided above.
Swimming: Finance
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many representations his Department has received from local authorities on the budgetary implications of free swimming schemes for (a) over 60 year olds and (b) under 16 year olds; and if he will place in the Library copies of such representations. [226261]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 13 October 2008]: We have received to date approximately 60 such representations. Subject to any issues of confidentiality, we will consider making responses available once our deliberations with authorities are complete.
Theatres Trust: Information Officers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press and communications officers are employed by the Theatres Trust. [224851]
Barbara Follett: The information requested has been supplied by The Theatres Trust. They inform us that no posts carry the job title “press” or “communications”. However, approximately 0.3 of the full-time equivalent of one post is spent on marketing, press and communications.
Tote: Information Officers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press and communications officers are employed by the Tote. [224862]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Tote have informed us that they do not employ any press and communications officers.
UK Film Council: Information Officers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press and communication officers are employed by the UK Film Council. [224780]
Barbara Follett: The UK Film Council have informed us that they currently employ two full time equivalent (FTE) press officers and one FTE communications assistant.
Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Emissions: International Cooperation
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with the Canadian government on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. [231765]
Joan Ruddock: The Department of Energy and Climate Change has only recently been set up and the Secretary for Energy and Climate Change has not yet had the chance to engage with the Canadian government on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
My hon. and learned Friend the Member for North Warwickshire (Mr. O'Brien) has recently met with the Albertan Energy and Environment Ministers.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the relative cost-effectiveness of alternative strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and if he will make a statement. [230351]
Joan Ruddock: The Stern review on the economics of climate change clearly demonstrated that the benefits of strong and early action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions far outweigh the economic costs of not acting. The Government's strategy is to take action as cost-effectively as possible, taking account of the need to secure emissions reductions within the UK, as well as to support action internationally. Impact assessments are published detailing the costs and benefits of individual instruments and policies to deliver emissions reductions.
In considering how we will meet our carbon budgets, which will be required under the Climate Change Bill, we will compare the cost-effectiveness of further action across all sectors of the UK economy. A report on how the Government will meet their budgets will be published as soon as is practicable once the budgets are set.
Home Energy Efficiency Scheme
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people he estimates are eligible for Warm Front grants; and how many people have received all or part of a grant in (a) Cornwall, (b) the South West, (c) England and (d) the UK in each year since 2003. [229369]
Joan Ruddock: The Warm Front grant provides a package of insulation and heating improvements up to a value of £2,700 (or £4,000 if oil central heating is recommended) throughout England. Devolved administrations have separate schemes.
Based on figures published in BERR's fuel poverty statistics (annexed to the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy annual progress report, 2008) the number of households eligible for assistance through the Warm Front scheme in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available, was 3.3 million.
The following table illustrates the number of households assisted each year from 2003 in (a) Cornwall, (b) the south-west, and (c) England by the Warm Front scheme.
| Scheme year | ||||||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09( 1) | |
| (1) To 30 September | ||||||
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consideration he has given to raising the maximum level of Warm Front grant. [230420]
Joan Ruddock: A decision on whether to increase the grant maximums has been delayed pending consideration of the National Audit Office (NAO) recommendations on various aspects of the Warm Front scheme. The recommendations will be contained in the NAO's Value for Money audit, due to be published in December. These recommendations will be considered alongside further work to assess the impact of an increase in grant maximums on the overall number of households assisted in this and future years.
Microgeneration
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will set a binding target for microgeneration by 1 November 2008 as required by the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006. [225725]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The new Department of Energy and Climate Change has already signalled strong commitment to meeting the following three long-term challenges facing our country:
Ensuring that we have energy that is affordable, secure, and sustainable.
Bringing about the transition to a low-carbon Britain.
And achieving an international agreement on climate change.
We have already announced our commitment to achieve an 80 per cent. cut in carbon emissions by 2050. We have also tabled amendments to the Energy Bill to introduce feed-in tariffs for small scale low carbon electricity generation up to 3MW and financial support for renewable heat at all scales.
We want to enable people to move from being passive users to being active generators of energy. While the microgeneration definition in the 2006 Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act, particularly in respect of heat generation, was of a scale more appropriate to households, we also want to see more schools, hospitals, communities and businesses invest in projects that will generate low carbon electricity and heat for their own use. This will allow more citizens to engage actively in the fight against climate change and increase our energy security.
In the first half of 2009 we will therefore launch our renewable energy strategy, and will bring forward our more detailed proposals on feed-in tariffs for small scale low carbon electricity and incentives for renewable heat. In the light of these decisions, we will be in a position to set out in detail the expected contribution of on-site generation alongside other kinds of electricity and heat generation.
Therefore at this stage, rather than designating targets within the narrower terms of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006, we intend to bring forward broader proposals in the context of the Renewable Energy Strategy.
I have placed a written statement of our reasons in the House Library.
Wind Power
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions his Department has had with other Government Departments on the impact of wind turbine developments on the rural environment. [233464]
Joan Ruddock: DECC officials have regular conversations with officials dealing with these matters in other Government Departments, and as part of the renewable energy strategy consultation, we have made it clear that we will need to ensure coherence between our renewable energy and environmental goals.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Dietary Supplements: EU Law
Sarah Teather: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment the Better Regulation Executive has made of the effect on the food supplements industry of setting maximum permitted levels under the Food Supplements Directive; and if he will make a statement. [227890]
Ian Pearson: The Food Standards Agency leads negotiations for the United Kingdom on the setting of maximum and minimum permitted levels and is responsible for developing the associated impact assessment. The Agency continues to gather information for, and develop the impact assessment in consultation with industry. An assessment of the likely impact will be made when the specific levels being proposed by the European Commission are available. These will be set out in Commission proposals, currently expected in January 2009, on which the Agency will consult fully. The Better Regulation Executive continues to work with the Agency to help them ensure the UK negotiating position is developed in line with better regulation principles.
Electronic Equipment: Waste Disposal
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what progress has been made towards implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive; and if he will make a statement. [232789]
Ian Pearson: The UK laid the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations before Parliament on 12 December 2006 and they came fully into force on 1 July 2007. Amending Regulations were laid before Parliament on 11 December 2007 and came into force on 1 January 2008.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the cost to British companies of implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. [232790]
Ian Pearson: The estimated costs of implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive are set out in the final Regulatory Impact Assessment which was published when the WEEE Regulations were laid before Parliament on 12 December 2006.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent representations he has received on the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. [232841]
Ian Pearson: There have been no recent representations received on the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department has taken to raise public awareness of opportunities to recycle equipment which falls within the provisions of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. [233055]
Ian Pearson: The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations place a number of obligations on producers and retailers of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) to provide information to consumers as to how best they can dispose of the WEEE to help protect the environment. From 1 July 2007, consumers have been receiving information from retailers, on how they can do this, when they buy a new item of electrical equipment.
A number of trade and re-use organisations have also been helping to raise awareness among their members. The Department has organised road shows, seminars, mail outs as well as press and publicity in national, regional and trading publications. Further awareness raising will be undertaken across the UK in the coming months.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |