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22 Feb 2010 : Column 57W—continued
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have had no recent discussions with the British Olympic Association or others on Snowsport GB.
Officials from my Department and UK Sport had contact with the British Olympic Association regarding contingency plans to support the participation of the ski and snowboard teams in the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Swimming: Concessions
Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many of those aged (a) under 16 and (b) over 60 years old resident in Salford have participated in his Department's free swimming programmes. [317551]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The number of unique participants in the free swimming programme is not collected centrally. Local authorities are responsible for collecting data on the number of free swims that have taken place in their area each month.
The table shows the total number of free swims that have taken place under the free swimming scheme by people aged 16 years and under, and people aged 60 and over, in the Salford local authority area between April 2009, when the scheme began, and December 2009.
These data were published on 5 February 2010:
| Number | |
Tourism: Gloucestershire
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding his Department allocated to Gloucestershire for the purposes of tourism in each of the last 10 years. [315879]
Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not held centrally. south west RDA has the primary role in taking forward a regional tourism strategy, and in deciding on tourism investment that would affect Gloucestershire. The reported tourism investment of the south west regional development agency for 2008-09 across the entire region was £3 million.
In partnership with the industry and the wider public sector, the DCMS has a clear and coherent policy framework for industry growth. This includes branding and marketing improvement led by VisitBritain; the National Tourism Skills Strategy; work across Britain to drive up product quality through accommodation grading schemes and the better co-ordination of public investment of over £350 million a year in tourism at national, regional and local levels.
In addition, the overall level of public sector investment in tourism from local, regional and national sources is likely to exceed £2 billion in the current spending review period. The Government believe this public investment is a good and reasonable investment in support for the tourism and hospitality industry.
Energy and Climate Change
Boilers: Government Assistance
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department holds on the area of residence of people who have made inquiries about eligibility for assistance under his Department's boiler scrappage scheme. [312740]
Joan Ruddock: Calls to the Energy Saving Trust, which is delivering the boiler scrappage scheme, are diverted to the nearest regional office in most cases based on the caller's telephone number if a landline is used. An analysis of number of calls received on the subject of eligibility for the boiler scrappage scheme by location of the call centre would provide a broad indication of the callers' region.
The applicant's address is required when an application is made. The Department intends to publish shortly details indicating the level of interest in the boiler scrappage scheme, and we would hope to present this information region by region.
Carbon Emissions
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he plans to take to implement a personal carbon incentive scheme; when the scheme will be introduced; and how it will operate. [316764]
Joan Ruddock: DECC's ambition to implement a scheme for a new personal carbon challenge with rewards and incentives for saving energy was set out in "The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan".
DECC is actively investigating how best to achieve this ambition. However, we are aware that there are existing schemes and proposals and are also looking to see how we can supplement them.
Chorley
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will set out, with statistical information as closely related to Chorley constituency as possible, the effect on that constituency of the policies of his Department since its inception. [314240]
Joan Ruddock: The Department of Energy and Climate Change and its predecessors have implemented a large number of policies to address energy security, emissions reductions, low carbon economic growth and fuel poverty. Some of the key achievements are set out as follows, along with information on the number of households assisted by the Warm Front scheme in Chorley constituency. It would be disproportionately costly to provide statistical information on all the impact of all the policies to the level of detail requested, but statistical information covering energy and climate change is available at:
Total UK greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by about 12 per cent. compared with 1997.
The UK is on track to cut emissions by nearly twice our Kyoto target (22 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2008-12 compared to the target of 12.5 per cent. set out under the Kyoto agreement).
The Climate Change Act in 2008 set a target of at least 80 per cent. reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. Our first three carbon budgets legally bind the UK to a cut in greenhouse gases of 34 per cent. by 2018-22 against a 1990 baseline. In 2009, the UK's Low Carbon Transition Plan set out the long-term vision for climate change and energy and showing how we will meet the carbon budgets set out in the Climate Change Act.
In the same year, the Department published national policy statements on energy infrastructure which will lead to faster and fairer planning decisions and a diverse low carbon energy mix. An ambitious new framework for clean coal will also drive development of carbon capture and storage.
The UK's energy market is the most competitive in the EU and has attracted over £97 billion of investment from 1997 to 2008 (at 2005 prices). The UK also has the greatest installed capacity of offshore wind in the world.
Turning to household measures, since 2002, the carbon emissions reduction target (CERT) and its predecessors have helped over six million households with insulation measures with almost three million of these in a priority group of vulnerable households.
Government will be providing more financial assistance to help people generate their own heat and electricity in low carbon ways, where appropriate, through 'clean energy cashback' schemes:
Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) will be in place from April 2010. Payment for low carbon electricity produced by small-scale generators (including households) will be provided through the electricity supply companies to encourage the uptake of low carbon and renewable electricity generating technologies by households, businesses and communities.
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), scheduled for launch in April 2011, will provide households, communities and businesses with payment for getting their heat from renewable sources. The detailed design of the RHI is currently out for consultation.
Warm Front scheme: Chorley constituency
DECC's Warm Front scheme provides grants for households on qualifying income and disability-related benefits to install a range of insulation and heating measures in their homes. Since 2000, the scheme has assisted 3,223 households in the Chorley constituency.
Departmental Accountancy
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether any written instructions have been provided to his Department's Accounting Officer in accordance with paragraph 5.5 of the Ministerial Code since his Department's inception. [315563]
Joan Ruddock: No such written instructions have been provided.
Departmental Billing
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the average length of time taken by his Department to pay invoices from (a) small and medium-sized enterprises and (b) all creditors in the last 12 months. [315129]
Joan Ruddock: DECC monitors its payment performance on the target of paying invoices within 10 days of receipt and this is included within the monthly management information reports. We do not however, differentiate between the size of each creditor as the same target applies to all. The latest available data is for December 2009, when 90.7 per cent. of invoices were paid within 10 days.
Departmental Consultants
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many consultants his Department employed in each year since its inception; and how many hours were worked by such consultants for his Department in each of the last 10 years. [314016]
Joan Ruddock: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental E-mail
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what procedures govern the manner in which his Department replies by e-mail to e-mail correspondence from (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public. [316980]
Joan Ruddock: Until mid January, BIS and DEFRA handled all of DECC's correspondence in line with their respective departmental procedures, underpinned by Cabinet Office Guidance available at
This general guidance recommends that e-mail correspondence is replied to in the same medium where possible, unless requested otherwise.
Since 18 January the Department has handled its own correspondence. It continues to follow Cabinet Office guidance with a view to maximising e-communication where appropriate.
Departmental Information Officers
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff in his Department have the status of (a) embedded communicators and (b) are members of the Government Communications Network and are not listed in the Central Office of Information White Book. [315568]
Joan Ruddock: There are 11 embedded communicators in the Department. None of these are listed in the Central Office of Information White Book.
Government Communications Network (GCN) membership data are not held by the Department. The Cabinet Office unit that administers the GCN is unable to share membership data without the permission of individual members, therefore it is not possible to readily provide accurate information on this without incurring a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Hurd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for which Google Adword online advertising keywords his Department and its agencies
have paid in the last 12 months; and at what cost. [315468]
Joan Ruddock: Primarily as part of the Act on CO2 campaign, the Department has paid for Google keywords (search words) over the past year to enable people to find information about energy, climate change and carbon reduction actions, quickly and effectively by taking people through to the Act on CO2 website.
The Google Adword system is like an auction and places advertisers in order of prominence according to how much they bid for a relevant keyword. It should be noted however that the actual cost the Department incurs is based on the number of clicks on the sponsored DECC link displayed.
DECC has a specific account which contains keywords built around specific campaign-related themes such as loft insulation and the carbon calculator. There is also an account which is jointly funded with the Department for Transport, containing more generic keywords such as climate change and global warming and Act on CO2 (as this is the call to action for both Departments' campaigns).
Other Government Departments and agencies such as the Energy Saving Trust sometimes bid for the same keywords as DECC. The amounts each Department pays can be capped, in order to minimise the risk of DECC and these Departments competing against each other for the same search keywords.
The total spend on paid search for DECC over the last 12 months is £361,700 (exclusive of VAT). The total spend for the Energy Saving Trust over the last 12 months is £272,000 (exclusive of VAT).
Departmental Pay
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses have been paid to officials in his Department since it was established; and what expenditure his Department has incurred on such bonuses. [301301]
Joan Ruddock: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was created in October 2008. An element of the Department of Energy and Climate Change's overall pay award is allocated to non-consolidated variable pay related to performance. These payments are used to drive high performance and form part of the pay award for members of staff who demonstrate exceptional performance, for example by exceeding targets set or meeting challenging objectives.
Non-consolidated variable pay awards are funded from within existing pay bill controls, and have to be re-earned each year against pre-determined targets and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs. The percentage of the pay bill set aside for performance-related awards is based on recommendations from the independent senior salaries review body.
| Number of staff | Total number of in year awards | Value of non- consolidated performance payments from October 2008 to end March 2009 (£) | Wages and salaries for the year 2008-09 (£) | Non - consolidated performance payments as percentage of wages and salaries | |
These figures do not include DECC end of year non- consolidated performance payments as they were awarded after March 2009.
Electricity: Nottingham
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much electricity was supplied to the City of Nottingham from the national grid in each of the last 10 years. [317223]
Mr. Kidney: Annual electricity consumption statistics for the Nottingham city council area are only available for the years 2003 to 2008 and are shown in the following table. The statistics include both domestic and non-domestic consumption.
| Electricity consumption in Nottingham (GWh) | |
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