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12 Nov 2009 : Column 666W—continued
Fossil Fuel Levy: Scotland
Mr. Ingram: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has plans for the drawdown and use of the Scottish Fossil Fuel Levy. [299826]
Mr. Kidney: The Department has no plans for the drawdown and use of the Scottish Fossil Fuel Levy.
Fuel Poverty
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his most recent assessment is of progress towards meeting the target of ending fuel poverty in England. [294122]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 20 October 2009]: The Government remain committed to doing all that is reasonably practicable to ensure that households do not live in fuel poverty.
Between 1996 and 2005 the number of fuel poor households in the UK fell from around 6.5 million to around 2.5 million. Rising fuel prices have reversed this trend.
A review of our fuel poverty policies is examining whether existing measures could be made more effective, and whether new policies should be introduced.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in (a) Peterborough constituency, (b) Cambridgeshire, (c) the East of England and (d) England are living in fuel poverty. [300118]
Mr. Kidney: The most recently available sub-regional split of fuel poverty relates to 2006, and shows that there were around 3,400 fuel poor households in the Peterborough constituency, and around 28,100 fuel poor households in the county of Cambridgeshire.
Latest figures for fuel poverty rates in England and at Government office region level relate to 2007. These show that there were around 253,000 fuel poor households in the East of England, and 2.8 million fuel poor households in England.
Generic Design Assessment
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what reasons his Department has decided not to reimburse the travel expenses of representatives of non-governmental organisations invited to attend the meeting on Updates on the Generic Design Assessment to be held in London on 17 November 2009. [298121]
Mr. Kidney: Ministers and officials regularly engage with a wide range of stakeholders including industry, environmental groups and the unions. Organisations who would expect to have contact with government and engage in consultations as a core part of their remit would normally not expect their expenses to be paid to attend meetings. In this instance we have offered a conference call facility to those who do not wish to travel. The distinction is made when members of the public who would not in their everyday lives expect to come to London to meet the Government are invited to do so, in which case their expenses would be paid.
In this instance we consider the meeting to be a particular circumstance in order to re-convene a specific group of non-governmental organisations, which was established by the regulators to discuss particular matters around the Generic Design Assessment. In these circumstances, we are willing to offer to reimburse reasonable travel expenses for these delegates to attend the meeting in London on 17 November 2009.
Heating
Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department holds on the accredited achieved efficiencies of heat pumps. [298716]
Joan Ruddock: The Department does not hold information on the accredited efficiencies of heat pumps. However, under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), product certification of heat pumps includes information on performance. More information on MCS is available at the website:
The Energy Saving Trust is currently carrying out heat pump field trails and this should provide further information the efficiencies of heat pumps. This trial is due to report in 2010.
Housing: Construction
Lembit Öpik:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department provides (a) grants and (b) other financial incentives to encourage (i) the use of environmentally-friendly
materials in housebuilding and (ii) the use of energy-conserving domestic appliances. [296803]
Joan Ruddock: The Department is providing £6 million for a Renewable Construction Demonstration Project which aims to increase the use of renewable construction materials in affordable homes. The project is administered by the Government's housing and regeneration body, the Homes and Communities Agency. Funding is available to registered social landlords to help create a series of greener homes using renewable materials such as timber frames, natural insulation and timber windows. Developers are also required to install smart meters to track energy use.
The carbon emissions reduction target (CERT), and similar previous policies, place a carbon saving obligation on energy suppliers to be met through promoting energy efficiency to households. One approach that suppliers follow is to subsidise the cost of the most efficient domestic appliances at retail or through appliance trade-in schemes.
Over the three years, 2005-08, eight million efficient cold and wet appliances were delivered and these were all A-rated or better. In the first year of CERT (2008-09) a further two million appliances were delivered providing lifetime emissions savings of about two million tonnes of CO2.
Industrial Diseases: Compensation
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) miners and (b) miners' widows have received industrial health compensation in each region of the UK in each of the last 20 years. [299717]
Mr. Kidney: The Government assumed responsibility for British Coal's health compensation liabilities in January 1998.
The following tables show the number of claimants who have received damages since 1998 in each region of the UK. The data are broken down into Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Vibration White Finger (VWF), Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) and 'Other' disease types where 'Other' includes all accident claims in addition to miscellaneous diseases.
| COPD data as at 31 October 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Number | ||||||||||||
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| VWF d ata as at 31 October 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Number | ||||||||||||
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
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