| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
3 Mar 2009 : Column 1514W—continued
Leader of the House
Departmental Art Works
Mr. Vara: To ask the Leader of the House which works of art from the Government art collection each Minister in her Office has selected for display in a private office. [259450]
Chris Bryant: The Office of the Leader of the House has 10 works of art on loan from the Government art collection. These are listed as follows:
Leader of the House of Commons
Rock Descent IV; painting by Anne Madden
Three Cadmiums, Four Discs; painting by Patrick Heron
Untitled; painting by Marta Marce
Romantic Landscape; painting by William Johnstone
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
London Blitz 1943; photograph by George Rodger
Pontllyfni in Snow; print by Kyffin Williams
Ploughed Field and Haystacks from A Private World; photograph by Paul Nash
Boat on the Shore, South of France from A Private World; photograph by Paul Nash
Sustenance 101; photograph by Neeta Madahar
Sustenance 104; photograph by Neeta Madahar
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Vara: To ask the Leader of the House how many public consultations her Office has conducted in the last 12 months; how long each consultation was open for; how many responses were received in each case; and what the cost of conducting each consultation was. [259688]
Chris Bryant: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons conducted one public consultation in the last 12 months, on the Draft Legislative programme. The consultation began on 14 May 2008 and concluded on 6 August 2008.
With regard to the responses and cost of the consultation, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given on 14 October 2008, Official Report, column 1016W. £32,035 was spent on publishing the Government's Draft Legislative programme for 2008-09. The cost of the consultation exercise on the Government's Draft Legislative programme for 2008-09 was £30,922.38.
The Government's Draft Legislative programme for 2008-09 received the views of around 1,900 people and organisations. These comprised 566 responses to the Leader of the House of Commons' website, at least 1,200 people and organisations who participated in the 62 regional events and 115 individuals and organisations who responded by post.
Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Emissions
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress has been made on developing a carbon accounting framework. [255139]
Joan Ruddock: We are developing a carbon accounting system for UK carbon budgets pursuant to sections 26, 27 and 28 of the Climate Change Act 2008. A consultation on our proposals for this system closed on 19 January, and we are currently analysing responses. We plan to lay regulations implementing the system in the spring, alongside the regulations setting the level of the first three carbon budgets.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the objectives are of developing a carbon accounting framework. [255140]
Joan Ruddock: A carbon accounting system is required to determine compliance with the carbon budgets and targets in the Climate Change Act 2008. It will set out the detailed rules for calculating the “net UK carbon account”, which must not exceed the budget at the end of each budget period. This will include determining which types of carbon units can count towards the account, the circumstances when carbon units can be credited to and debited from it, and the system that will keep track of the units.
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will encourage local authorities to switch from burning fossil fuels to burning wood pellets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [258277]
Joan Ruddock: The Government’s Biomass Strategy, published in 2007, and the 2008 consultation document on the Government’s Renewable Energy Strategy, issued by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, discuss the potential impacts on air quality from the use of biomass for local heating. These recognise the benefits in carbon reduction from the use of biomass, such as wood pellets, over fossil fuels such as coal or fuel oil, but that in some cases, this would result in increased emissions of air pollutants. The consultation document sets out ways the Government are seeking to facilitate uptake of biomass heat without compromising air quality or public health. A final strategy is due to be published later this year.
Copies of the published documents are available on the Department’s websites:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/ENVIRONMENT/climatechange/uk/energy/renewablefuel/pdf/ukbiomassstrategy-0507.
Climate Change
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what climate models his Department (a) has access to and (b) uses, with particular reference to the climate model used by Lord Stern in his Review on the Economics of Climate Change. [255977]
Joan Ruddock:
The Department has access to and utilises the findings from the suite of climate models that have been developed and continue to be refined by the Met Office Hadley Centre (MOHC), through its Integrated Climate programme. The Department, together with the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, jointly funds this programme which aims to monitor, understand and predict climate change. As part of its climate modelling
work, the MOHC collaborates with other research centres in the UK and internationally in the development of these models.
The outputs from the MOHC’s climate models are a key element of the scientific evidence base that underpins our policy development and international negotiations on climate change. My Department also uses the findings from the international set of climate models and associated modelling work that contributed to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The simple model for climate policy assessment (SiMCaP) climate model was used to provide mitigation trajectories for the global carbon finance (GLOCAF) model, developed by the Office of Climate Change to look at the costs to different countries of moving to a low carbon global economy, and the kind of international financial flows this might generate.
Climate Change: International Cooperation
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to meet (a) the US Energy Secretary and (b) the White House Energy Co-ordinator to discuss (i) the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, (ii) a funding mechanism for the UN Climate Change Adaptation Fund and (iii) the transfer of carbon-neutral and clean technologies to the developing world; and if he will make a statement. [255733]
Joan Ruddock: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had initial discussions with both the US Energy Secretary and White House staff. He will have further discussions with the US Administration during his visit to the United States in March.
Combined Heat and Power: Oils
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to encourage the use of combined heat and power generated from cooking oil recycled by means of gravity separation and filtration techniques; and if he will make a statement. [258815]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Good quality combined heat and power benefits from a number of support mechanisms, such as exemption from the climate change levy and enhanced capital allowances. Combined heat and power produced from a renewable fuel meeting the legal requirements also benefits from the operation of the renewables obligation.
Departmental Foreign Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) EU foreign nationals and (b) non-EU foreign nationals are employed by his Department. [256211]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information that has been requested is not held centrally by BERR or DECC HR and is not therefore available to us without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Public Appointments
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he plans to appoint a Chief Engineering Adviser in his Department. [255160]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC currently has no plans to appoint a Chief Engineering Advisor. The Chief Scientific Adviser for DECC, who will be appointed shortly, will deal with issues relating to science, engineering and technology—as does the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Chief Scientific Advisers in other Departments.
Energy Supply
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what percentage of the UK's power is generated by (a) wind farms, (b) solar, (c) nuclear power stations, (d) coal-fired power stations, (e) clean coal-fired power stations, (f) gas-fired power stations, (g) oil-fired power stations, (h) tidal sources and (i) geo-thermal power stations. [259544]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Separate data are not yet available for tidal, geo-thermal, because of the small number of sites using these technologies. For 2007, the percentages of UK generation by the other sources requested are given in the following table. Corresponding figures for 2008 will be published on 30 July 2009.
| Generation (GWh) | Share of total UK generation (per centage) | |
| Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics, 2008, Tables 7.4 and 5.6, available at: http://www .berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/energy/statistics/publications/dukes/ page45537.html | ||
Energy: Prices
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the average amount billed for fuel consumption for (a) a one-bedroom flat, (b) a two-bedroom flat, (c) a three-bedroom house and (d) a four-bedroom house in (i) North Wiltshire constituency, (ii) Wiltshire, (iii) London and (iv) England in the last 12 months. [258280]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC does not hold data on energy bills split by size of property, or on a constituency or county basis.
However, DECC does hold information on the average annual gas and electricity bills a household is likely to incur in each PES (public electricity supplier) area and gas LDZ (local distribution zone). These bills are based on standard consumption levels of 3,300 kWh for electricity and 18,000 kWh for gas.
The latest data, published by DECC in Quarterly Energy Prices, suggest that in 2008 customers paying their bill on receipt (standard credit) would pay:
| £ | |||
| Electricity | Gas | Total | |
| (1 )For Wiltshire the PES electricity area is southern and the LDZ for gas is south west. (2 )For London the PES electricity area is London and the LDZ for gas is North Thames. | |||
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the average amount billed for fuel consumption for a (a) one-bedroom flat, (b) two-bedroom flat, (c) three-bedroom house and (d) four-bedroom house in (i) Hemel Hempstead and (ii) Hertfordshire in the last 12 months. [260086]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC does not hold data on energy bills split by household size, or on constituency or county basis.
However, DECC does hold information on the average annual gas and electricity bills a household is likely to incur in each PES (Public Electricity Supplier) area and gas LDZ (Local Distribution Zone). These bills are based on standard consumption levels of 3,300 kWh for electricity and 18,000 kWh for gas.
The latest data, published in Quarterly Energy Prices, suggest that in 2008 customers paying their bill on receipt (standard credit) would pay:
| Hemel Hempstead (Eastern PES/LDZ) | |
| £ | |
Fines
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether any administrative financial penalties may be levied by his Department. [253595]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was formed on 3 October 2008, bringing together policy responsibility for energy (formerly with the Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform (BERR)) and climate change (formerly with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)).
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |