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22 Mar 2010 : Column 101W—continued
| Fuel | ||
| Kerosene | B30K | |
Boilers: Government Assistance
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the operation of the boiler scrappage scheme; and if he will make a statement. [322937]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 18 March 2010]: The boiler scrappage scheme has proved popular and appears to have stimulated many people to consider replacing their boiler. We estimate that the scheme is helping householders to save around £200 a year off fuel bills and reduce emissions and sustain work for 130,000 installers and employees of the 25 UK-based boiler manufacturers.
Carbon Emissions: Housing
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) undertaken any research of the level of consumer awareness of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target; and if he will make a statement. [323553]
Joan Ruddock: The Government are taking a number of steps to ensure consumers are assisted in understanding the support available to them. The Government support a one-stop shop through the Energy Saving Trust which provides free advice to consumers on energy saving as well as providing easy access to the full range of Carbon Emission Reduction Target offers. This is supported by the Government's overarching Act on CO2 marketing campaign which demonstrates the benefits of the energy saving measures offered under the Carbon Emission Reduction Target as part of coverage in national television, press, radio and online. We have recently conducted qualitative research among consumers to help deepen our understanding of attitudes, behaviours, motivations and barriers for home insulation. Longer term, we have set out our intention as part of the 'Warm Homes, Greener Homes' strategy to continue to improve and simplify consumer access to, and navigation of, energy saving information. This will combine with effective branding and marketing to build awareness and trust in the available products and services.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consideration he has given to the introduction of a sunset clause in the eligible measures under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target; and if he will make a statement. [323554]
Joan Ruddock: The supplier obligation (now termed the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target) has been set over three-year cycles precisely to allow Government to reflect on its successes and to evolve the scheme so that it only pulls through the most energy efficient products with the most potential to provide for household sector carbon emissions reductions. The measures eligible for each phase are subject to full public consultation. The consultation on the April 2011 to December 2012 extension of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, which concluded on 14 March 2010, specifically asked whether Government should introduce up front sunset clauses for products when they reach a certain level of market penetration. Consultation responses are now being considered.
Departmental Offices
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on office refurbishments since its inception. [320471]
Joan Ruddock: Since its inception on 3 October 2008 the Department has spent a total of £1,649,504 on refurbishments.
Departmental Sick Leave
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many working days were lost in his Department as a result of (a) stress and (b) other illnesses in 2008-09. [311572]
Joan Ruddock: The average working days lost due to illness for 2008-09 was 2.6 days. We are unable to provide a breakdown of this by category of illness for this period of time.
Departmental Surveys
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will place in the Library a copy of the benchmark results of the Civil Service People Survey for his Department. [322571]
Joan Ruddock: The DECC Employee Engagement Survey results are now available in the Library.
The results are also available on the DECC website
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/default.aspx?nl=26&;n2 =1138&n3=1139&preview=true
Energy: Conservation
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding has been allocated to (a) each pay as you save pilot scheme and (b) the pay as you save scheme for (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11. [322707]
Joan Ruddock: The Government have made £4 million available for the Home Energy Pay As You Save pilots. £2 million in 2009-10 and £2 million in 2010-11. The five pilot projects were announced in December 2009.
Spend profiles are based on individual pilot start-up plans. Budgets for 2010-11 are indicative only and are subject to review and first year evaluation. All figures in the Following table excludes operating costs.
| £ 000 | ||
| Pilot Project | 2009-10 | 2010-11( 1) |
| (1) Indicative | ||
Fuel Poverty: Leeds
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the number of households in fuel poverty in Leeds North West constituency. [322834]
Mr. Kidney: The most recently available sub-regional split of fuel poverty relates to 2006, and shows that there were 4,200 households in the Leeds North West constituency that were classified as living in fuel poverty.
Guanidine
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of guanidine to his Department's renewable energy strategy. [323017]
Joan Ruddock: None. Guanidine is a potential chemical carrier for hydrogen-which can be used in modified internal combustion engines (ICEs), turbines or fuel cells. Guanidine is a solid at room temperature. Its advocates claim that this offers some advantages over the current methods for storing hydrogen as a compressed gas or cryogenic liquid.
Nuclear Power Stations: Construction
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 16 March 2010, Official Report, column 799W, on nuclear power stations: construction, whether representatives of non-governmental organisations participating in the planned forum will be reimbursed for (a) travel, (b) subsistence and (c) accommodation expenses; whether assistance will be provided to those representatives to cover loss of earnings consequent on attendance at the planned forum; and what budget has been allocated to support the work of the forum. [323624]
Mr. Kidney: Representatives of non-governmental organisations participating in the planned forum will be offered the following:
(a) Reasonable travel costs to be reimbursed;
(b) Subsistence payments will not be offered although suitable refreshments will be provided depending on the time of day.
(c) Accommodation expenses will not be paid. Loss of earnings will not be covered. No specific budget has been allocated. Any costs associated with the planned forum will be covered within the running costs of the Office for Nuclear Development.
International Development
Departmental Food
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to ensure that the meat and dairy products procured by his Department and its non-departmental bodies are free range or produced to standards equivalent to those of the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme. [323068]
Mr. Michael Foster: All food products procured on behalf of the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK are purchased by our catering contractors, Charlton House Catering Services. Charlton House Catering Services uses only nominated suppliers that are able to demonstrate conformity with current animal welfare legislation. They procure free range produce where possible within cost constraint and are working with Assured Food Standards to identify and promote products that qualify under the Red Tractor assurance scheme. DFID will ensure that in any future re-entering of the catering contract, due regard will be given to animal welfare standards as part of the awarding criteria.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2010, Official Report, column 877W, on departmental internet, what the cost was of the refresh of its website. [323567]
Mr. Michael Foster: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer of 14 December 2009, Official Report, column 806W, on Departmental Internet.
Departmental Written Questions
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the dates of publication of any regular statistics or reports by his Department have been affected by planning for the forthcoming general election. [323458]
Mr. Michael Foster: On the announcement of a general election, the Cabinet Secretary issues guidance to Departments on their activities during the pre-election period. This will be published on the Cabinet Office website.
Regular statistical releases and reports will continue to be issued and published during the election period on dates which have been pre-announced.
Developing Countries: Disabled
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he plans to take to ensure that each of his Department's country programmes record and report on their support for access to education for children with disabilities. [322718]
Mr. Michael Foster: Lack of reliable data on enrolment, attendance, achievement and completion of education by children with disabilities is an issue in most countries where the Department for International Development (DFID) provides support to education. DFID's new Education Strategy sets out our commitment to publish a new toolkit which aims to support country programmes and partners in delivering inclusive education for children with a disability. This will include working with national partners on data collection and monitoring. At an international level, progress will require working with the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) and UNESCO's Institute for Statistics (UIS).
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will support proposals for the establishment of rights for disabled people to an inclusive education at the forthcoming (a) (i) G8 and (ii) G20 summit in Canada and (b) the Millennium Development Goals Review in September 2010. [322719]
Mr. Michael Foster: Every child should have access to a good quality basic education. The Department for International Development (DFID) will continue to advocate for the education of children with disabilities in all forums, including the G8, G20 and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Review Summit. DFID recognises the importance of supporting primary aged children with disabilities to receive an education, as well as other children who have been denied access, for achieving the Millennium Development Goal.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if his Department will use the Fast Track Initiative's equity and inclusion framework when part of a donor group charged with assessing education sector plans submitted to the Fast Track Initiative. [322720]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) will support the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) to ensure that countries are supported to tackle exclusion of children from education including those with a disability. DFID has been a member of the small task team of donors and civil society which has led on the production and piloting of the FTI's equity and inclusion framework. DFID's Rwanda office is currently using the framework in partnership with the national Government and we would expect to use the framework in other DFID partner countries where education sector plans are being assessed under the FTI.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will support proposals for the insertion of an indicator on disability into the Indicative Framework that guides education sector planning under the Fast Track Initiative. [322721]
Mr. Michael Foster:
The Department of International Development (DFID) has been one of the lead partners within the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) in supporting the development of an Equity and Inclusion Tool. This will ensure that countries which are supported address the barriers to education faced by marginalised children including those with a disability.
The Indicative Framework is currently under review. In the context of this review, DFID will continue stress the importance of including equity and inclusion issues.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will request (a) the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and (b) other international organisations to provide greater support for developing countries to monitor educational access for children with disabilities. [322722]
Mr. Michael Foster: Supporting developing countries to monitor children's access to education is important for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Department for International Development (DFID) is already providing financial support to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (£200,000 in 2009-10) and the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report (£300,000 in 2009-10) to collect and disseminate statistical information of children's enrolment. As part of our continuing dialogue with these and other organisations, we have advocated the need for data collection to include statistics for children with disabilities. DFID supported calls for equity-based reporting of statistics from participants to the DFID Millennium Development Goals Conference on 11 March 2010.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how the toolkit on inclusive education announced in his Department's education strategy will be disseminated to (a) country programmes and (b) other development partners; and what steps he plans to take to encourage take-up of the toolkit in his Department's country programmes. [322716]
Mr. Michael Foster: The toolkit to support country programmes and partners in delivering inclusive education for children with disabilities will be finalised by the end of March and disseminated to countries over the following three months. Country offices will be encouraged to make use of the toolkit and share extensively with other development partners, through forums such as local education groups (LEG).
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he expects the toolkit on inclusive education announced in his Department's education strategy to be delivered. [322717]
Mr. Michael Foster: The new toolkit to support country programmes and partners in delivering inclusive education for children with disabilities will be completed by the end of March and disseminated to countries in the following three months.
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