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20 Apr 2009 : Column 306W—continued
Departmental Reorganisation
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many of his Department’s staff were based in (a) his Department's London offices, (b) the London offices of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and (c) the London offices of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 1 March 2009. [266621]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: As at 1 March 2009 there were approximately 106 staff in the Department’s London office and of those transferring to DECC from BERR and DEFRA there were approximately 320 in the London offices of DEFRA and approximately 480 in the London offices of BERR.
Departmental Responsibilities
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has lead responsibility for (a) the Civil Nuclear Police Authority and (b) the UK Atomic Energy Authority. [266677]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC has lead responsibility for the Civil Nuclear Police Authority, and BERR has lead responsibility for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his Department's policy is on holding departmental away days at locations other than departmental premises. [268469]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department of Energy and Climate Change has no specific policy on holding away days in non-departmental premises other than guidelines about ensuring value for money in all instances. Departmental premises are not always of sufficient size to accommodate the number of people attending such events.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been spent on media training for each Minister in his Department since its inception; how many sessions have been provided; and who provided such training. [268560]
Empty Property
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the estimated cost in empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by (a) the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and (b) the UK Atomic Energy Authority is in 2008-09. [258531]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC does not hold the information requested as the bodies covered by the question are managed by their own estates teams.
My officials have asked the chief executives of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the UK Atomic Energy Authority to write to the hon. Member, and copies of their letters will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Energy Supply
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2009, Official Report, column 2160W, on energy supply, for what reasons he does not plan to place in the Library a copy of (a) the agenda and (b) the minutes of the meeting he held with the main energy supply companies on 17 November 2008. [266671]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Ministers meet regularly with stakeholders as part of the commercial and policy development process, and these meetings are not public meetings.
Energy Supply: Competition
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the adequacy levels of competition in the markets to supply (a) liquefied petroleum gas and (b) heating oil to domestic consumers. [265837]
Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 23 March 2009]: The supply of liquefied petroleum gas and heating oil is subject to UK competition law. Ensuring that those markets operate freely and fairly is a matter for the independent competition authorities.
Energy: EU Action
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on liberalising the European energy market. [268196]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
On 10 October my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State attended the Energy Council which agreed a common position on the Commission's third package of measures on the internal market. Since
then the Presidency has been in negotiation with the European Parliament and the Commission to agree a final text.
The representatives of the different institutions reached agreement at the end of March and we expect the legislation to be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council this summer. Member states will then have eighteen months to comply with the new requirements.
The deal should improve the functioning of EU energy markets, encourage the investments needed for secure and sustainable energy supplies, protect consumers and promote energy efficiency.
Energy: Finance
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has allocated under each budget heading for its expenditure on work relating to (a) nuclear energy, (b) combined heat and power and (c) renewable energy in 2008-09. [264621]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC allocated budgets in 2008-09 for (a) nuclear energy, £3 million; (b) combined heat and power—separate figures are not available except at disproportionate cost; and (c) low carbon and renewable energy demonstration through the national Environmental Transformation Fund, £76.5 million.
Energy: Meters
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in (a) England and (b) Hemel Hempstead constituency have (i) electric and (ii) gas prepayment meters. [261277]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) monitors, and publishes information about gas and electricity prepayment customers. However, prepayment data are published for England, Scotland and Wales or, by individual energy supplier, not on a parliamentary constituency basis. In September 2008, the last period for which data have been published, the number of customers in England using prepayment meters was two million for gas and 2.9 million for electricity.
Energy: Public Consultation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many responses to the Heat and Energy Saving Strategy Consultation had been received on the latest date for which figures are available. [265085]
Joan Ruddock: The Heat and Energy Saving Strategy (HES) Consultation was launched on 12 February 2009. As of 7 April the consultation website had received over 40 responses. Respondents are free to change or even delete their responses until the website closes so these responses are not yet officially completed.
To accompany the formal written HES consultation, and also consultations on the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), a series of stakeholder events were
held across Great Britain during March. These were part of the open and active consultation process to raise awareness of the proposals and encourage responses. Feedback from these events will contribute to the consultation responses.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much he expects his Department's Heat and Energy Saving Strategy Consultation to cost. [265086]
Joan Ruddock: I refer the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Mr. Mike O’Brien) on 25 March 2009, Official Report, columns 499-500W.
Energy: Syria
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has discussed energy policy with his Syrian counterpart; and if he will make a statement. [267095]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: There have been no ministerial discussions on energy issues with Syrian counterparts since the Department was formed.
Enrichment Holdings
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff in his Department are engaged in work arising from his Department’s shareholding in Enrichment Holdings Limited. [266722]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Three staff spend part of their time working on the shareholding in Enrichment Holdings Ltd. Taken together; the total time commitment on the shareholding for all three of them currently equates to no more than two days per week of one person’s time.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the monetary value of the Government’s shareholding in Enrichment Holdings Limited. [266723]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: As part of the portfolio of the Shareholder Executive, the value of the Government’s holding in Enrichment Holdings Ltd. is assessed regularly and such valuations are commercially confidential.
Fossil Fuels: Government Assistance
Gregory Barker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much Government financial support was provided to fossil fuel suppliers in each of the last 10 years. [265220]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government have supported coal producers through coal operating aid (2000-2002) and coal investment aid (2003-2008). Payments were made as follows:
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Fuel Poverty
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department has taken together with local authorities to reduce levels of fuel poverty in the last 12 months. [268380]
Joan Ruddock: Since 2000 over £20 billion has been spent on fuel poverty benefits and programmes.
This includes: the Warm Front Scheme in England, which has assisted 1.8 million households; the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and the Decent Homes Programme, primarily addressing the energy efficiency of households; and Winter Fuel and Cold Weather Payments to increase household incomes. The Warm Front scheme alone, has in the 2008-09 year, assisted almost 235,000 households spending almost £340 million on measures.
The combination of national and local programmes and delivery through local government, partnerships and area based schemes can help target areas of particular need. We are currently consulting on the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP), where we propose to support energy efficiency measures at a local, community level, by fostering new and existing partnerships between energy companies, local authorities, voluntary organisations and other such bodies, to offer support to poorer communities on a house-by-house, street-by-street basis.
As part of the Local Government Framework, National Indicator 187 (Tackling Fuel Poverty) has been designed to measure the proportion of households on income related benefits for whom an energy assessment of their housing has been carried out and have a SAP of below 35 or greater than 65. We are encouraged that 40 out of 150 Local Area Agreements (LAAs) have included NI187 as one of their 35 local improvement targets and have set challenging but achievable targets. All local authorities will have to report on progress each year.
Responsibility for fuel poverty policy is a devolved matter. Ministers across Government and the Devolved Nations discuss policy to tackle fuel poverty and we publish an annual report which includes information on progress in the Devolved Administrations.
Gas and Electricity Markets Authority: ICT
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what internal IT projects Ofgem (a) has commissioned in the last five years and (b) plans to commission in the next 12 months. [269275]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: This is an operational matter for Ofgem. I have asked them to write to the hon. Member.
Heating: Carbon Emissions
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department has gathered for benchmarking purposes of the percentage of circulator pumps installed in domestic properties with an A rated energy label in (a) Denmark and (b) Germany. [268150]
Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
Defra does not hold the specific information requested. However, information from the Energy using Products preparatory study suggests that A rated circulators represented about 5 per cent. of sales across Europe in 2006.
Home Energy Saving Programme
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) what proportion of the £910 million home energy saving fund announced on 11 September 2008 he expects to be spent in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; [266717]
(2) by what date he expects the first payment from the £910 million home energy saving fund announced on 11 September 2008 to have been made. [266718]
Joan Ruddock: On 11 September 2008 the Prime Minister announced the Home Energy Saving Programme which included a 20 per cent. uplift to the level of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and a new obligation, the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP). These schemes operate as obligations on the energy suppliers (and the electricity generators in the case of CESP) to achieve carbon savings by encouraging households to take-up energy saving measures.
The figure of £910 million refers to the estimated extra investment suppliers and generators will need to make in order to deliver these additional obligations. No Government funding is involved.
In terms of CERT, Ofgem, the scheme administrator, does not collect data on energy supplier spend. However, based on the costs of the measures promoted by suppliers, we estimate that the overall spend by suppliers on delivering the 20 per cent. increase to the CERT obligations will be around £560 million. However, we expect the CESP to lead to supplier and generator investment of some £350 million by 2012.
The proposals for CERT and CESP are currently subject to public consultation.
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