Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012: Facilities
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what her most recent estimate is of the cost of hosting the London 2012 Olympic tennis events at Wimbledon. [281644]
Tessa Jowell: The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has responsibility for staging the Olympic and Paralympic games at existing venues. The direct costs associated with staging the events at existing venues come from LOCOG's revenues which are primarily derived from commercial sponsorship, broadcast rights, ticket sales and merchandising/licensing—not from the public purse.
There will be attributable costs to the public purse, for example in respect of the security and transport functions associated with the venue. However these
costs have not yet been identified separately for individual venues, but they will form part of the overall security and transport budgets.
Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Emissions: Housing
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many grant applications for funding were received by the Low Carbon Buildings programme in respect of projects in (a) schools, (b) hospitals and (c) other public buildings in (i) the East of England and (ii) Castle Point in each year since the scheme's inception. [281855]
Joan Ruddock: The following number of grant applications for funding were received by the Low Carbon Buildings programme in respect of projects in (a) schools, (b) hospitals and (c) other public buildings in (i) the East of England region and (ii) Castle Point in each year since the scheme's inception.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme—Phase 1
Applications received (including withdrawn, rejected, expired)
| 2006 | 2007 | |||||||||
| Organisation | July | August | September | November | January | March | April | June | September | Total |
We are unable to check results at local borough level. However, applications under all streams of phase 1 have been checked against the towns in the following table which make up the local borough area, and no applications were submitted (Convey Island, Benfleet, Thundersley and Hadleigh).
There were no applications from Castle Point.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme—Phase 2
| Organisation | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | Total |
There were no applications from Castle Point.
Carbon Emissions: Standards
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent under each budget heading on its consultation on the term carbon neutral; and how many civil servants in each pay band have worked on that consultation. [282020]
Joan Ruddock: The consultation in question sought views on a definition of the term ‘carbon neutral’ and on practical guidance on applying the definition, including recommendations on what constitutes good practice. Departmental expenditure on the consultation related to administration costs only. Salary costs have been estimated at between £35,000 and £40,000. Work on the consultation was carried out by one official in pay range D with a small amount of support from staff at pay ranges C and H. Other costs relate solely to stationery and are estimated at less than £50.
Departmental Billing
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 18 May 2009, Official Report, column 1115W, on departmental billing, how much his Department’s non-departmental public bodies have paid in interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 since his Department was established. [282324]
Joan Ruddock: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority are unable to separately identify interest paid under the Act since DECC was created due to systems constraints. None of the Department’s other non-departmental public bodies have paid interest under the Act.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many breaches of information security there have been at his Department since its creation. [281096]
Joan Ruddock: There have been no breaches of information security in the Department.
The Department and its agencies will report all significant personal data security breaches to the Cabinet Office and the ICO. Information on any personal data security breaches are published on an annual basis in the Department's annual resource accounts as was announced in the Data Handling Review published on 25 June 2008.
Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is published within the annual resource accounts.
Departmental Energy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent progress his Department has made towards the target of increasing its energy efficiency per square metre of its Estate by 15 per cent. by 2010, relative to 1999-2000 levels; and if he will make a statement. [266881]
Mr. Kidney: Since DECC’s inception, BERR and DEFRA manage the Department’s estate. Given that, I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Natural and Marine Environment, Wildlife and Rural Affairs on 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 84W, and by my hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on 20 April 2009, Official Report, columns 401-02W.
DECC has identified and is implementing a number of measures aimed at increasing energy efficiency at its HQ, in line with Good Practice Guide 286—Energy Performance in the Government’s Civil Estate.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much (a) electricity and (b) gas was used (i) on his Department's estate and (ii) by his Department's agencies in each year from its inception to 2008-09. [280514]
Joan Ruddock: As at 30 March 2009 the Department used approximately 1,066,912 kWh of electricity and 570,944 kWh of gas since its inception. This is based on average daily usage. DECC has no agencies.
Departmental Work Experience
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) paid and (b) unpaid graduate internships his Department has awarded in each of the last six months. [281515]
Joan Ruddock: DECC does not currently have a central system for monitoring internships. However, a trawl of all directorates has revealed that there are currently no paid or unpaid graduate internships in the Department.
Electric Cables
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) what recent assessment he has made of the costs and benefits of placing underground (a) new and (b) existing electricity transmission lines; [282406]
(2) when his Department last assessed the need to retain all parts of the overhead electricity transmission and distribution network; and if he will make a statement. [282414]
Mr. Kidney: Any such assessments are a matter for Ofgem and the network operators and would be carried out as part of the price control review mechanism through which the transmission and distribution network companies are regulated.
Energy Supply
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what meetings he and other Ministers in his Department have had with (a) Ofgem, (b) energy suppliers and (c) energy consumer groups or representatives since October 2008 in the last 12 months. [283278]
Mr. Kidney: In order to inform the development and support delivery of policy the Secretary of State and Ministers have met on a regular basis with a broad range of companies, interest groups and the regulator since the creation of DECC in October 2008.
Energy: Consumers
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the relationship between consumer awareness of energy efficiency and consumer behaviour adopting energy-efficiency practices. [282603]
Joan Ruddock: DECC takes account of externally available research about consumer awareness of energy use and energy efficiency and effects on behaviour, in order to inform its policy development.
DECC is co-funding the Energy Demand Research Project, which is enabling the Government, energy suppliers and others to test through a variety of interventions how electricity and gas customers respond to better information about their consumption. The project explores the impact on energy consumption and energy efficiency of smart meters in combination with awareness raising tools including real-time display devices and additional billing information, as well as the provision of energy efficiency information and community engagement.
Entec UK
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the (a) purpose and (b) monetary value is of each contract his Department has with Entec UK environmental consultants. [280356]
Joan Ruddock: DECC has two contracts with Entec:
(a) Appraisal of Sustainability of five energy National Planning Statements (a requirement of the Planning Act 2008) and
(b) Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Framework for the Development of Clean Coal (a requirement of Directive 2001/42/EC—the ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment’ directive).
The value of both of these contracts is considered commercially sensitive.
Mike Anderson
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what position Mike Anderson holds within his Department. [281307]
Joan Ruddock: Mike Anderson no longer holds a position in the Department.
Nuclear Power Stations
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what timetable he has set for the confirmation of planning permissions for the next generation of nuclear power stations. [280647]
Mr. Kidney: The Office for Nuclear Development has published an indicative timeline for the new nuclear build programme on their website. It sets out at a strategic level how the key parts of the new nuclear programme fit together.
The timeline shows we expect to publish and consult on the draft Nuclear National Policy Statement (NPS) in the autumn of this year. We expect the Nuclear NPS to be designated in the spring of next year and the IPC will be ready to receive applications shortly after this.
The indicative timeline can be viewed at:
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