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16 Dec 2008 : Column 704W—continued
UK Trade and Investment: Overseas Workers
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many full-time equivalent staff are working overseas for UK Trade and Investment; and what estimate he has made of the number in the next financial year. [243029]
Gillian Merron: UK Trade and Investment has 1,294 full-time equivalent staff working overseas. A similar number is expected for the next financial year.
Energy and Climate Change
Biofuels: Wood
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will consider withholding planning consent for wood biomass energy plants of 50 megawatts and over except in cases where guarantees to source wood exclusively from overseas are in place. [243369]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: No. Previous biomass generating stations consented by the Secretary of State have included conditions covering the sustainability of the fuel to be used rather than its origin. Government also propose to include a sustainability reporting requirement for generators using biomass to generate electricity with a net capacity greater than 50kW, to take effect from 1 April 2009, as part of the reform of the renewables obligation.
Carbon Emissions
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the price per unit of carbon above which energy companies would have sufficient incentive to retrofit power plants with carbon capture and storage technology by (a) 2010, (b) 2015 and (c) 2020. [243539]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Modelling undertaken by DECC suggests that, when commercially available, the incentive required to install CCS, either as retrofit or on new power stations, is a carbon price of €40-60/tCO2, although there is significant uncertainty surrounding this range. The commercial availability of CCS is not expected to be achieved before 2020 following successful full-scale demonstration.
Retrofitting carbon capture and storage in 2010 or 2015 would mean deploying the technology before it had been demonstrated at full-scale, and therefore the cost and performance of the technology would be uncertain. Moreover, energy companies are likely to require a significant risk premium for investing in unproven technology.
Departmental Buildings
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 109W, on departmental buildings, by what date he expects all London staff to be moved into 3 Whitehall Place. [242566]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: It is not yet possible to give a firm date for the completion of the move, but, on the basis of current plans, we expect the bulk of the Department to be in 3 Whitehall Place by spring 2009.
Departmental Disabled Staff
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what conclusions his Department has reached in fulfilment of its duty under section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice of the disability equality duty. [240986]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was formed on 3 October 2008. The Department's conclusions in fulfilment of its duty under section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice of the disability equality duty will be set out in the Department's annual progress report on its Disability Equality Scheme, which will be published in due course.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 4 November 2008, Official Report, columns 336-7W, on Government departments: information and communications technology, which IP addresses are used by (a) his Department and (b) computers in the offices of its (i) Ministers, (ii) communications officials and (iii) special advisers. [241950]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: To help defend against electronic attack, it is standard good information security practice for corporate IT systems not to publish internal IP addresses. When accessing internet websites, the IP addresses of all of the computers on the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s internal office IT system are hidden behind the following IP addresses which are publicly available—195.92.40.49 and 62.25.106.209. These IP addresses are shared with other Government Departments that use the Government secure intranet.
Departmental Marketing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been spent by his Department on advertising since its inception. [243896]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: None since 3 October 2008.
Departmental Procurement
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of invoices for goods and services procured from small and medium-sized businesses were paid within 10 days of receipt by (a) his Department and its predecessor and (b) the agencies for which his Department is responsible in (i) 2006-07 and (ii) 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [243351]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was formed on 3 October 2008. Information for 2006-07 and 2007-08 will be provided in the responses to this question from the Departments of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Departmental Public Expenditure
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 25 November 2008, Official Report, column 1464W, on energy and climate change, for what reason the budget for his Department will not be published before February 2009. [242740]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is currently engaged in discussions with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to agree the finer detail of the policy areas and associated budgets to be transferred to DECC. Discussions are expected to conclude by the beginning of January 2009. A formal transfer of budgets will take place through the spring supplementary estimates in February.
Departmental Rail Travel
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on what date he last used a train in the course of his official duties. [242623]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State travelled to Brussels by train on 5 December 2008 to attend the Environment Council. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
Departmental Reorganisation
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects discussions on machinery of government changes with the Departments for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to be completed. [242505]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Negotiations on the machinery of government changes, as they affect the Department of Energy and Climate Change, are continuing. These negotiations should be completed in time to allow the Spring Supplementary Estimates to be completed early in 2009.
District Heating: Whitehall
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the levels of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the operation of the Whitehall District Heating System has been in each of the last five years. [242508]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
Response from OGCbuying.solutions:
| Calendar year | Carbon emissions (tonnes carbon) |
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the output of the Whitehall District Heating System was in each of the last five years. [242510]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is as follows:
| kWhrs | |||||
| Year 1 2003-04 | Year 2 2004-05 | Year 3 2005-06 | Year 4 2006-70 | Year 5 2007-08 | |
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts the Government has entered into relating to the Whitehall District Heating System. [242511]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
Contracts regarding the Whitehall District Heating System are commercial in confidence.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost of the Whitehall District Heating System has been in each of the last five years. [242512]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is as follows:
| £ million | |||||
| Year 1 2003-04 | Year 2 2004-05 | Year 3 2005-06 | Year 4 2006-07 | Year 5 2007-08 | |
Electricity Generation
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on how many occasions a demand-side response has been required by the system operator to achieve balance in electricity supply in each of the last 10 years. [242503]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Demand control has only been used on one day in the last 10 years by the system operator to achieve balance in the electricity supply. On the 27 May 2008 automatic low frequency demand tripping relays operated disconnecting 546MW of demand following an exceptional loss of generation. Subsequently demand reduction was also instructed to the distribution network operators (DNOs).
Energy Supply
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to ensure timely replacement of ageing (a) electricity and (b) gas transmission and distribution infrastructure; and if he will make a statement. [242478]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
It is the responsibility of National Grid and the gas and electricity distribution network companies to maintain electricity and gas transmission infrastructure, operating under the regulatory framework provided by Government and regulated by Ofgem. Operators face financial incentives, managed by Ofgem, to reduce interruptions to supply over their network,
thereby providing a strong incentive to upgrade networks as necessary. Recent price control reviews have taken account of the need for additional investment.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the cost of replacing ageing (a) electricity and (b) gas transmission and distribution infrastructure in each of the next 10 years. [242851]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government do not provide estimates of the cost of replacing electricity and gas transmission and distribution infrastructure. This is a matter for the network owners. The amount of investment in the development and maintenance of electricity and gas networks, however, is the subject of regulation by Ofgem, operating within the regulatory framework set out by Government. Ofgem regulates this investment through its price control reviews.
Environmental Transformation Fund
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 25 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1474-75W, on renewable energy: finance, what the anticipated end date of the Environment Transformation Fund is. [242619]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: No end date has been set for the Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF). Funding has been provided for the current period 2008-11. Funding allocations beyond this period are subject to review through the spending review process.
EU Emissions Trading Scheme
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate the Government have made of the cost of carbon allowances under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in (a) 2012 and (b) 2020. [243540]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government use the forward market to estimate the cost of carbon allowances up until 2012, under Phase II of the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS).
The EU ETS post-2012 is being revised as part of the EU Energy and Climate Package.
There is no forward market as yet for Phase III. The UK Government do not comment on prices while negotiations on the package are continuing.
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