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14 Oct 2009 : Column 988W—continued
In reporting emissions reductions against all of these targets, the UK is able to take account of emissions trading through the European Union emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). Overall, in each one of the three years in phase I, the UK was a net acquirer of allowances. Taking this into account in the context of the UK's
reported emissions, this has affected the results by reducing the level of emissions by the amount of EU ETS allowances acquired in the year.
It should be noted that UK and EU targets are for a basket of greenhouse gasses and not just CO2.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many sub-contractors have been contracted to carry out work under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme. [292032]
Joan Ruddock: This information is not held centrally as it is commercially confidential. The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target is an obligation on gas and electricity suppliers to deliver carbon reduction in GB households. Who the energy suppliers contract to deliver low carbon products in achievement of their targets is at their discretion.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many enquiries made to the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme about free insulation for houses have been received; and how many such enquiries led to the installation of free insulation. [292035]
Joan Ruddock: This information is not held centrally. The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target is an obligation on gas and electricity suppliers to deliver carbon reduction in GB households and each supplier will have their own range of promotions, often through a range of delivery routes. This includes work with social housing providers, charities, retailers, contracting directly with insulation installers or through management agents as well as direct marketing.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people have unsuccessfully applied for domestic insulation under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme. [292036]
Joan Ruddock: This information is not held centrally as it is commercially confidential. The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target is an obligation on gas and electricity suppliers to deliver carbon reduction in GB households. It is at suppliers' discretion which households they deliver measures to in achievement of their targets.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many houses in Bassetlaw constituency have been insulated under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme. [292037]
Joan Ruddock: This information is not held centrally. Under the governing regulations, Government cannot oblige energy suppliers to report on where measures are installed under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. However, we are progressing a voluntary agreement with the energy suppliers to this end, which we hope to have in place this year. This will report all CERT insulation data into the Home Energy Efficiency Database held by the Energy Saving Trust, and allow area based analysis.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people have received domestic insulation under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme. [292038]
Joan Ruddock: From 1 April 2008 to 30th June 2009, 717,646 cavity wall insulation measures, 889,768 professional loft insulation measures and 14,059 solid wall insulation measures were installed under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target.
Climate Change
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department consulted scientists from outside the International Panel on Climate Change prior to publishing the document, Road to Copenhagen. [292448]
Joan Ruddock: The UK Government use the IPCC's findings and those from other reliable scientific sources such as the Hadley Centre to inform the development of UK climate change policy positions and these are reflected throughout the Road to Copenhagen Command Paper.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provides the most authoritative perspective on climate change science. Its 4(th) annual report, published in 2007, was the result of six years of work by more than 1,200 scientists from over 130 countries. The work was reviewed by around 2,500 experts.
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department are expected to attend the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009; and what recent estimate he has made of the projected carbon footprint resulting from such travel to attend the conference. [292450]
Joan Ruddock: We have not yet determined who will attend from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, so we cannot say with certainty how many Ministers or officials will be on the delegation. This will depend largely on the state of international negotiations at the time of the conference.
Without knowing the size of our delegation, it is impossible to project our carbon footprint, however, we are taking steps proactively to minimise the delegation's impact on the environment.
DECC offset all emissions from international flights.
In addition to flying, we are researching low-carbon methods of transport, i.e. rail and ferry, to allow delegates to minimise their emissions in travelling to Copenhagen.
We are also researching materials and practices we can employ at the conference to minimise our impact on the environment. Internal experts are advising on possible innovations to improve the green-ness of the UK delegation.
The Danish Government are keen to make COP 15 the greenest COP so far, and so they are providing free public transport and showcasing a host of environmentally friendly vehicles. We will be taking full advantage of this to minimise our daily carbon footprint.
Climate Change: Research
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what research into geoengineering techniques for the purpose of combating climate change his Department has funded in the last 12 months. [292047]
Joan Ruddock: During the last 12 months, DECC has funded a small amount of modelling work into the environmental consequences of several geo-engineering options, including injecting sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere and encouraging low level cloud development to increase regional reflectivity.
Coal: Industrial Health and Safety
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many crossover claims under the coal health compensation scheme have been made by each of the 50 solicitors' firms which have made the highest number of such claims. [292009]
Mr. Kidney: The number of claims under the coal health compensation schemes submitted by the 50 highest claimants' representative that had the crossover issues is shown in the following table as at 4 October 2009.
| Claimants' representatives | Location | Claims with crossover issues |
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