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4 Mar 2009 : Column 1662W—continued
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make it his policy for his Department to sign the Information Commissioner’s Personal Information Promise. [258950]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government welcomed the Promise as a commendable initiative to raise awareness of the importance of effective data protection safeguards, particularly for those organisations with no similar commitments already in place.
The Government take data protection very seriously. Following the Cabinet Office Review of Data Handling Procedures in Government, Departments have implemented a raft of measures to improve data security.
The Ministry of Justice is considering actively with the ICO how the Promise might add additional value to those measures we have already signed up to. These include the Information Charters, the recommendations of the Data Handling Review and the Thomas/Walport Review and, of course, our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act and other legislation and regulations.
Departmental Responsibilities
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when his Department will publish its corporate plan. [255163]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: No decision has yet been made about this.
Electricity
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many homes were without electricity supply for a period of more than four hours during January 2009. [259498]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State does not collect detailed data on supply interruptions which would enable numbers of electricity customers interrupted for more than four hours to be calculated on a monthly basis. Existing statutory reporting requirements relate only to major interruptions and not to all interruptions.
Distribution Network Operators will, however, report interruptions data for the 2008-09 regulatory year to Ofgem on 30 April 2009.
Energy: Meters
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will place in the Library of the House a copy of the minutes of each meeting held by officials in his Department at which smart meters have been discussed since the creation of his Department. [255847]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Officials have met a wide range of individuals and organisations to discuss smart metering issues, including energy supply companies, network operating companies, trade union representatives, metering businesses, environmental and consumer organisations and others with an interest in smart meter roll-out.
I do not intend to place records of the meetings in the Libraries of the House. There would be disproportionate costs involved, for instance in the clearance of such records with the relevant individuals and organisations.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what (a) organisations and (b) individuals, officials in his Department have met to discuss smart meters since his Department's inception. [255992]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Officials have met numerous organisations and individuals to discuss smart metering issues, including energy supply companies, network operating companies, trade union representatives, metering businesses, environmental and consumer organisations and others with an interest in smart meter roll-out.
Energy: Supply
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the effect of the economic downturn on UK energy demand. [255218]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: National Grid estimates that current electricity demands are approximately 2 gigawatt's lower than they would expect under similar weather conditions but with last winter's usage patterns. It expects that over the summer the demand reduction will continue, and are forecasting electricity demand about 1.3 gigawatt's lower than last summer's.
National Grid believes gas demand from industrial, commercial and domestic customers has seen a significant downturn since the start of winter, when compared with the same period last year assuming normal weather conditions. However, growth in power generation and exports to mainland Europe have resulted in the same overall level of demand as last winter.
The Department estimates that in the three months to December 2008 petrol demand fell by 6 per cent. and diesel demand by 5 per cent. when compared with the previous year.
It is not known how much of the change in energy demand is due solely to the economic downturn.
Environmental Transformation Fund
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the revenue source of the Environmental Transformation Fund is. [256621]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 12 February 2009]: As announced in the 2007 Budget the Environmental Transformation Fund is funded equally from the Department for International Development and my Department’s budgets. Prior to DECC’s creation, funding was supplied by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Decisions on how much to allocate to departmental budgets are made at spending reviews.
Housing: Carbon Emissions
Mr. Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has awarded under Phase 2 of the Low Carbon Buildings programme in each quarter since it was established. [258456]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Under the Low Carbon Buildings programme Phase 2 the following amount of money was committed in each quarter since the programme was established:
| Quarterly commitment for LCBP2 | ||
| £ | ||
| Committed rate (takes account of withdrawn projects) | Grant committed (cumulative) | |
Mr. Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has awarded to microgeneration of heat and electricity projects under Phase 2 of the Low Carbon Buildings programme, broken down by specific technologies supported. [258457]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: To date under Phase 2 of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme the total of £26,441,200 was allocated to 1,324 projects broken down by technologies as follows:
| £ | |
Industrial Diseases: Compensation
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many addresses his Department has provided to the Legal Complaints Service in order to advise claimants under the Coal Health Compensation Scheme about their ability to complain about double charging by solicitors; and how many such addresses his Department holds. [253320]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department provided 3,651 living claimant addresses from the Rother Valley constituency to the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) in July 2007, following which each individual claimant was written to and invited to attend an information session headed by my right hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Barron).
Since then, the LCS has amended its approach to taking this work forward and has reached agreement with some solicitors, representing a large proportion of all claimants under the Coal Health Compensation Schemes, for them to write directly to their clients explaining how they can seek redress. The Department may need to provide further data in future to enable the LCS to contact claimants whose solicitors do not agree to follow the LCS’ preferred approach and arrangements for this are under discussion.
The Department holds the addresses of 588,739 claimants under the schemes and any requests for the disclosure of such personal data are considered in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the requirement for enhanced data security given the personal data involved.
Microgeneration
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what research his Department has commissioned into the effectiveness of (a) ground and (b) air source heat pumps. [257586]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Energy Saving Trust is currently undertaking the first-of-its kind field trial of heat pumps in the UK with support from DECC and other stakeholders. The trial is measuring the in-situ performance of 80 ground and air-source heat pumps installed in domestic properties. The field trial was launched in 2008 after extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders in government, industry, and academia. The project will collect data for one calendar year from all sites. The trials are due to report in January 2010 and we look forward to the results.
Natural Gas
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to increase the capacity of storage facilities for gas. [259588]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government are working to facilitate new gas storage projects by implementing the reforms to the consents procedures under the Energy and Planning Acts 2008. National Grid’s recent “10 Year Statement” identifies 17 commercial gas storage projects in various stages of development. A further major project has also recently been announced. If all these projects go ahead GB’s gas storage capacity could increase to some 20 per cent. of current annual demand levels by around 2020.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of domestic gas consumption was obtained from domestic sources in each of the last 15 years; and if he will make a statement. [259589]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Because the UK’s gas consumption needs are met by domestic production, imports (net of exports) and changes in gas stocks it is not possible to identify the exact proportion of domestic production physically consumed in the UK. Given the complexities a simplified measure is shown in the following table. This shows the UK’s dependence on imported gas over 15 years to 2008. A negative net import figure means the UK was a net exporter of gas. The final column shows that between the years 1996 and 2003 (inclusive) the UK was self-sufficient in gas.
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