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2 Feb 2010 : Column 181W—continued
The additional funding that has been made available has helped deliver 1,089 million passenger journeys on the tube in 2008-09, the highest ever. London Underground's scheduled service is now its largest ever, and in 2008-09 96.4 per cent. was run, the best annual result for 14 years.
Bus services in London have also improved. 2,247 million passenger journeys were made in 2008-09 and patronage grew by almost 47 per cent. between 1997-98 and 2007-08.
Concessionary travel continues to benefit elderly and disabled Londoners, and more than a million older people currently hold a Freedom Pass.
South London rail routes serving Vauxhall have also improved. Southern have delivered a new fleet of trains, some of which operate on South London services, and the remaining rolling stock has been refurbished.
On the roads, national targets to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured by 40 per cent. and reduce the number of "slight" casualties by 10 per cent. (compared to the period 1994-98) by 2010 were largely exceeded by TfL by 2004, leading to TfL setting themselves new targets of 50 per cent. and 25 per cent. respectively.
Various improvements in relation to cycling have also been realised across London. In May 2010 TfL will launch its cycle hire scheme and construction of the first two (out of 12) cycle superhighways is presently under way. One runs through Vauxhall to the City and is anticipated to be ready this summer. TfL report that cycling now accounts for 2 per cent. of trips in London compared to 1.2 per cent. in 2000, and between 2000-01 and 2007-08, TfL's automatic cycle counters reported an increase in cyclists of 91 per cent.
Energy and Climate Change
Air Pollution: Nuclear Power Stations
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on how many occasions since 2006 air exclusion zones around licensed nuclear installations have been breached; what action was taken in each case; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the report made on each incident. [313120]
Mr. Kidney: Five reports of alleged nuclear installation restricted airspace infringements have warranted investigation since 2006. These reports are summarised in the following table:
Coal Gasification
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the likely contribution of coal gasification to UK energy needs; and if he will make a statement. [313188]
Mr. Kidney: The Coal Authority has recently granted six conditional licences for underground coal gasification (UCG) and is currently considering a further five applications. However, the technical and economic viability of UCG has not to date been demonstrated in UK conditions and it is, therefore, too early to judge what contribution this fledgling technology might make to future UK energy needs.
Combined Heat and Power
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the potential financial contribution to the UK economy of the micro-combined heat and power industry. [313547]
Mr. Kidney: The Government have not produced estimates of the potential financial contribution to the UK economy of the microCHP industry. Any such estimates would depend on market size, which would depend in part on the nature and level of support to the technology, as well as a range of commercial factors, and the nature of the manufacturing process for the different technologies relative to conventional boilers.
The Carbon Trust is carrying out field trials on micro CHP. An interim report was published in 2007, and final results should be published shortly.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many performance reviews were undertaken in respect of staff of his Department and its predecessors in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a direct result of such a rating; and what percentage of full-time equivalent staff this represented. [313835]
Joan Ruddock: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was created in October 2008 bringing together staff from Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Each Department had a separate legacy appraisal system. The number of performance reviews carried out for staff in DECC under those legacy arrangements since that date are shown in the following table.
| 2008-09 end of year performance reviews | |
| Appraisal system | Number of reviews |
Data relating to the previous years, i.e. 2004-08, are not available as the cost to identify the staff involved would be disproportionately expensive.
The number of staff identified as having a performance level that is unsatisfactory or below is not being disclosed so as to maintain individual confidentiality.
Departmental Written Questions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what average time his Department took to answer questions for (a) ordinary written answer and (b) written answer on a named day in the last 12 months. [313665]
Joan Ruddock: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Ordinary written PQs | Named day PQs | |||
| Number | Average time taken | Number | Average time taken | |
Energy: Business
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps (a) he and (b) Ofgem have taken to ensure that energy supplies provide fair payment terms to small businesses. [313111]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 25 January 2010]: Ofgem is responsible for regulating gas and electricity supply, including supply to the business sector. In August 2009, Ofgem announced the introduction of new licence requirements to provide greater protection for small business customers when entering into a new supply contract. This followed the probe into the energy supply market during 2008.
The changes, which came into effect from 18 January 2010, require suppliers, among other things, to send small business customers a reminder at least 30 calendar days before their existing contract is due to end, and include details of the last point the customer can notify that they wish to agree a new contract or switch supply to another supplier, and limit the length of time of an automatic rolled-over contract to 12 months.
For customers on existing contracts the new rules will apply once their contracts ends.
Fuel Poverty
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of
20 January 2010, Official Report, column 401W, on fuel poverty, when the definition of fuel poverty was last reviewed. [315191]
Mr. Kidney: The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 defines a fuel poor person as one living on a lower income in a home which cannot be kept warm at reasonable cost.
The most widely accepted definition of a fuel poor household is one which needs to spend more than 10 per cent. of its net income to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth (usually 21 degrees for the main living area, and 18 degrees for other occupied rooms).
There has been no review of this definition.
Fuel Poverty: Chelmsford
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in (a) West Chelmsford constituency and (b) the Chelmsford local authority area have received assistance from his Department and its predecessors to meet or reduce fuel and heating costs in each of the last five years. [314588]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 1 February 2010]: The following table shows how many households in (a) West Chelmsford constituency and (b) the Chelmsford local authority area have received assistance from the Warm Front scheme since the start of the current phase of the scheme in 2005.
| Number | ||||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10( 1) | Total | |
| (1) To 31 December 2009. Note: Prior to 2005 the scheme was managed by a different agent in the Chelmsford area, and data are not available. | ||||||
Other households in the West Chelmsford constituency and the Chelmsford local authority area will have benefited from other Government schemes in the last five years. However, data in respect of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) are not available at the level requested, as suppliers are only required to report to Ofgem on a GB-wide basis. Similarly, data for other schemes and social tariffs are not available at such a low level of geography.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households were in fuel poverty in (a) West Chelmsford constituency and (b) the Chelmsford local authority area in (i) 2003 and (ii) 2009. [314589]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 1 February 2010]: The most recently available sub-regional split of fuel poverty relates to 2006. It shows that there were around 2,700 fuel poor households in the West Chelmsford constituency and 4,200 poor households in the Chelmsford local authority area.
In 2003 there were around 2,300 fuel poor households in the West Chelmsford constituency and around 3,600 fuel poor households in the Chelmsford local authority area.
The methodology used for the 2006 work differs from that previously used, so care should be taken in comparing the fuel poverty levels in one area between 2003 and 2006.
Fuel Poverty: Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of households in (a) Ashford constituency and (b) Kent which (i) were in fuel poverty in the latest period for which figures are available, (ii) have come out of fuel poverty since 1997 and (iii) have re-entered fuel poverty since 1997. [313516]
Mr. Kidney: In 2006, the most recent year for which sub-regional figures are available, there were around 3,900 fuel poor households in Ashford, and 59,900 fuel poor households living in Kent. Corresponding figures for 1996 are not available.
Fuel poverty estimates are derived from a survey, which provides a means of producing aggregate data on numbers of households in fuel poverty, but does not allow for details of individual households moving in to or out of fuel poverty to be monitored, as a different sample of households are surveyed each year.
In England as a whole, fuel poverty has reduced from 5.1 million households in 1996, to 2.8 million households in 2007.
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