| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10 Mar 2009 : Column 400W—continued
Working Capital Scheme
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) how many businesses have sought access to funds under the Working Capital Scheme; [256167]
(2) how many businesses are currently in receipt of assistance under the Working Capital Scheme. [256168]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 11 February 2009]: The Working Capital Scheme is not available directly to businesses. The scheme is designed to enable participating banks to increase the amount of working capital they can make available to businesses.
Energy and Climate Change
Apprentices
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) apprenticeships and (b) advanced apprenticeship places there were in (i) his Department and (ii) the agencies for which he is responsible in the most recent year for which figures are available. [251974]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Government Skills will be preparing a table of Departments participating in the national apprenticeship partnership in 2008-09 and the number of apprentices on the programme.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has been formed by bringing together work previously covered by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. As a new Department it is not yet participating in the partnership. It will in due course develop its policy in relation to apprenticeships.
Carbon Emissions
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of delivering a reduction of one tonne of carbon dioxide under the Carbon Reduction Commitment. [262717]
Joan Ruddock: Analysis indicates that the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) will result in an overall net present value benefit to participants of around £1 billion.
The CRC is designed to help secure emissions reductions cost-effectively from across the economy, and will promote changes in behaviour and infrastructure. The costs to the public purse per tonne of carbon dioxide will be close to zero, as carbon savings have been modelled to be at least 4 Mt CO2 by 2020. Only the costs of the initial setting up of the scheme and enforcement action by the regulators will be paid from the public purse. It is designed to be broadly revenue-neutral to the Exchequer.
The revenue raised from the sale of allowances will be recycled to participants. For participants taken as a whole, the costs of participating will be outweighed by the savings from the reduction in energy bills.
Carbon Emissions: Barnsley
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make an assessment of the reductions in carbon dioxide emissions achieved by Barnsley Metropolitan borough council through pilot trials of burning wood pellets in fossil fuel appliances. [258276]
Joan Ruddock: The reports submitted by Barnsley metropolitan borough council to the Department do not provide sufficient quantifiable evidence to enable a review of the potential carbon savings which the pilot trials may have achieved. I understand the trials were primarily concerned with assessing the feasibility of using wood pellets as fuel in boilers originally designed to use coal.
Carbon Trust: Public Relations
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what payments the Carbon Trust has made to (a) Fishburn Hedges, (b) Grayling Political Strategy, (c) Weber Shandwick Public Affairs and (d) Citigate Public Affairs in each of the last five years; and on what date and for what purpose the payment was made in each case. [255939]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Carbon Trust is a private company limited by guarantee, and details of payments made are therefore a matter for the Trust's Board.
The Department has been informed that the Carbon Trust has made payments to Fishburn Hedges, Grayling Political Strategy, and Weber Shandwick Public Affairs, for promoting energy efficiency and low carbon technology and advice on government affairs strategy, within the last five years.
Coal Fired Power Stations: Kingsnorth
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change during what periods in July and August 2008 the power generation units at Kingsnorth power station were (a) operating at full capacity, (b) operating at limited capacity and (c) turned off; and if he will make a statement. [261845]
Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 9 March 2009]: I am advised by E.ON UK that, during July and August 2008, Kingsnorth power station, excluding its auxiliary gas turbines, was generating power for slightly less than half of that time and was generating no power for the remainder of the period. At no time during the period were all the station’s units operating at full load.
The output of each unit can vary significantly from day to day. More detailed information is available on the operating regime of each unit and the company would be happy to supply this if the hon. Member wishes to write to E.ON UK.
Combined Heat and Power
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to publish the results of his Department’s modelling of the effects of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme phase 3 on combined heat and power plants. [262111]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We hope to publish projections of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) capacity, including the possible effects of Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, during the period for consultation on the Heat and Energy Saving Strategy which closes on 8 May 2009. The projections in this report will include input from developers on their likely investment in the future energy market.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what account will be taken of carbon dioxide emission levels from combined heat and power installations in the benchmarking allocation under phase 3 of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. [262112]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The revised EU Emissions Trading Directive agreed in December 2008 sets out the principles by which free EU allowances will be distributed to installations, including those with combined heat and power. These principles are:
The allocation should be ex-ante i.e. based on historic data and not adjusted ex-post;
The allocation should give incentives to reduce emissions and take into account efficient techniques such as high efficiency combined heat and power (CHP);
The allocation should be calculated for final products rather than inputs to maximise emissions reductions and;
The starting point shall be the average performance of the 10 per cent. most efficient installations in a sector or sub-sector in the EU in 2007-08.
The final allocation rules are due to be agreed by 31 December 2010.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he plans to take to support the financing and development of heat networks. [262113]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government have set out a number of possible measures to encourage the development of heat networks and district heating in the consultation on the Heat and Energy Saving Strategy, published on 12 February 2009.
Departmental Conferences
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what conferences his Department has organised since its creation. [257590]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Since DECC’s creation on 3 October 2008, the Department has organised the following conferences:
Departmental Electricity Generation
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been spent by his Department in (a) capital expenditure and (b) maintenance and running costs for standby diesel generators for backup electricity on the departmental estate since October 2008. [260421]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Since October 2008, there has been no capital expenditure on standby diesel generators on the DECC estate. £720 has been spent on maintenance and running costs for the standby diesel generator in DECC's London headquarters in 3 Whitehall Place by DEFRA’s Estates Division, who currently manage this generator. No maintenance and running costs have been incurred by DECC.
Departmental Impact Assessments
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many equalities impact assessments his Department has undertaken in the last 12 month period for which figures are available; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of such assessments. [255075]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Since the Department’s creation on 3 October 2008, DECC has undertaken six equalities impact assessments (EIAs). Since undertaking equalities impact assessments is integrated into the Department’s policy making process, it is not possible to estimate any specific cost associated with the EIAs.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will publish a copy of his Department's website accessibility plan. [257239]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department’s website (www.decc.gov.uk) is already designed to be fully accessible to Level Double-A standard of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, in accordance with the Central Office of Information’s guidelines. Further information on the DECC website’s accessibility can be found at:
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on (a) alcohol and (b) food since its inception. [261170]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department’s financial transactions are processed by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Neither system collects spend in sufficient detail to identify alcohol and food separately. Therefore, the Department could not answer this question without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many and what percentage of letters sent by his Department were given to (a) the Royal Mail and (b) another postal services provider for delivery in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [259965]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC does not currently have a correspondence unit. Correspondence is handled on behalf of DECC by DEFRA and BERR and I therefore refer my hon. Friend to the responses provided by those Departments.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Martin Horwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding was allocated to the (a) Waste and Resources Action
Programme, (b) Carbon Trust, (c) Energy Saving Trust, (d) National Industrial Symbiosis Programme, (e) Envirowise and (f) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in each year since 1997; and how much he expects each organisation to receive from the public purse in each of the next six years. [257667]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 23 February 2009]: The following table details the funding allocated to the (a) Waste and Resources Action programme, (b) Carbon Trust, (c) Energy Saving Trust, (d) National Industrial Symbiosis programme, (e) Envirowise and (f) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in each year since 1997.
This Department funds the Carbon Trust (CT), the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
The CT was established in 2001 and in the past received funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). CT figures do not include funding from the devolved administrations.
Previously, the EST received funding from DEFRA, the Department for Transport, BERR (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry) and the Scottish Administration.
The NDA became operational on 1 April 2005. It is funded by a combination of Government funding and commercial income. The funding for the NDA for 2008-09 is expected to be around £3 billion, of which £1.5 billion is Government funding. The total funding for the NDA for the three year spending period to 2010-11 is expected to be around £8 billion, of which £5 billion is Government funding.
The National Industrial Symbiosis programme (NISP) is funded by DEFRA as is Envirowise (which until 2006-07 was jointly funded with BERR) and the Waste and Resources Action programme (WRAP). The allocations for NISP, Envirowise and WRAP do not include funding from the Devolved Administrations. The NISP and WRAP programmes were not operational in the years for which figures have not been provided.
Funding in 2009-10 for some delivery bodies has yet to be confirmed while the funding for all bodies for years beyond that has yet to be determined.
| £ million | ||||||
| WRAP | Carbon Trust | EST | NISP | Envirowise | NDA | |
| (1) Includes £14,001,000 of accrued income—i.e. income payable to the Carbon Trust under arrangements for 2007-08, but disbursed in 2008-09 when funds were required. | ||||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |