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23 Mar 2010 : Column 287W—continued
| (ii) 2009-10 | |
| Supplier | Service provided |
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Brand review, publication design, web development consultancy | |
Since 2006-07, the Standards Board has spent £139,447 on exhibitions at party political conferences.
Tenancy Deposit Schemes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 15 March 2010, Official Report, column 671W, on tenancy deposit schemes, if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts between his Department and tenancy deposit scheme providers, with the commercially sensitive information redacted. [323920]
Mr. Ian Austin: Yes, I will place copies of the redacted versions of the Department's contracts with MyDeposits, the Deposit Protection Service and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme in the Library of the House.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what dates in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010 to date (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in his Department met each of the tenancy deposit scheme providers; who was present at each such meeting; and what items were discussed. [323921]
Mr. Ian Austin:
Ministers have not met the tenancy deposit scheme providers in 2009 or 2010. Officials met MyDeposits on 12 January, 24 June and 21 September 2009 and 18 January 2010, the Deposit Protection Service on 26 January, 22 April and 28 September 2009 and 3 February and 3 March 2010 and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme on 19 January, 28 April, 23 September and 12 November 2009 and 25 January and 19 February 2010. The schemes were represented by senior executive staff and board members. The items discussed included general updates from the scheme providers and CLG, contract obligations including key performance indicators, disaster recovery/business continuity plans and tests, issues raised by the Tenancy Deposit Protection User
Group, operational issues including promotional activity, data collection and other current issues.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department's contracts with tenancy deposit scheme providers provide for it to intervene to prevent an increase in the level of fees charged by a provider. [323922]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department has no role in the level of fees that the tenancy deposit scheme providers charge their members. Any increase is a commercial decision for the scheme providers.
Travelling People: Caravan Sites
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what Ordnance Survey's policy is on recording illegal encampments and Traveller camps without planning permission on Ordnance Survey maps. [323229]
Mr. Ian Austin: Ordnance Survey's policy for the recording of encampments and Traveller camps reflects normal data capture policy. The location of buildings, roads, tracks, hedges, fences and similar structures which meet the relevant map specifications are surveyed and recorded when they are considered to be permanent features in the landscape. Locations of mobile homes are recorded as though they were buildings, but only when they are occupied principally for residential purposes and have a postal address.
Judgments as to permanence and residential status are determined by the surveyor using the detailed mapping specifications, established precedent and experience in interpreting the physical nature of a development.
It is not within Ordnance Survey's remit to make any judgment on the legality or otherwise of any feature or development within the landscape. Hence the representation on an Ordnance Survey map of any features within a site containing an encampment or Traveller camp is no evidence of the legality or status under planning permission of that camp.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to answer Question 315992, on affordable housing and the Code for Sustainable Homes, tabled on 2 February 2010. [320253]
Mr. Ian Austin: I have now replied to the hon. Member's question.
Energy and Climate Change
Boilers: Government Assistance
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects funding allocated to the boiler scrappage scheme to be exhausted; whether he plans to provide additional funding for the scheme; and if he will make a statement. [323175]
Joan Ruddock: The boiler scrappage scheme works on a "first come, first served" basis. The funding will be exhausted when there is insufficient resource available to support the issuing of further vouchers under the £50 million allocated to the scheme. The scheme has been very popular. Any decision on the provision of additional funding for the scheme would be a matter for consideration as part of the usual budgetary cycle.
Carbon Emissions: Buildings
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has made an estimate of the average waiting time for work to be carried out under the Low Carbon Buildings programme in respect of (a) schools, (b) hospitals, (c) other public buildings and (d) households in (i) each London borough and (ii) Putney constituency in each year since inception of that programme. [323927]
Joan Ruddock: The Low Carbon Buildings Programme does not collect or collate this type of information. Each grant offer letter is time bounded depending on the type of technology requested, the applicant type (householder applications or communities/schools/other not-for profit organisations) and if new build or retro-fit. Any waiting time will relate to these time scales.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) what the monetary value was of grants awarded under the Low Carbon Buildings programme to (a) schools, (b) hospitals, (c) other public buildings and (d) households in (i) each London borough and (ii) Putney constituency in each year since inception of that programme; [323928]
(2) how many applications for grants under the Low Carbon Buildings programme from (a) schools, (b) hospitals, (c) other public buildings and (d) households in (i) each London borough and (ii) Putney constituency were refused for each reason in each year since the inception of that programme; [323929]
(3) what payments were made to the 10 Low Carbon Buildings programme contractors which were awarded contracts of the highest monetary value in respect of (a) schools, (b) hospitals, (c) other public buildings and (d) households in (i) each London borough and (ii) Putney constituency in each year since the inception of that programme; and how many complaints his Department (A) received and (B) upheld about work undertaken by those contractors under that programme in each of those years. [323930]
Joan Ruddock: The information requested above is not held centrally nor in a form that is readily extractable. Some information (we do not know if it is complete) may exist as raw data within several databases but our estimates are that for it to be researched and extracted manually from over 25,000 records will require approximately 10 person days.
For this reason, we believe that disproportionate costs will be incurred with no guarantee that the question will be answered successfully.
Carbon Emissions: Housing
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many domestic appliances are being funded under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target Scheme; what estimated reduction of carbon dioxide emissions this funding has achieved; and if he will make a statement. [323428]
Joan Ruddock: Domestic appliance products make up less than 1 per cent. of savings to date towards the 185 million tonne lifetime carbon dioxide savings target (April 2008 to March 2011 timeframe). High efficiency consumer electronics are responsible for a further 2 per cent. This compares to some 62 per cent. of savings to date achieved through insulation products. The specific number of domestic appliances supported will only be known at the end of the scheme.
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department are taking to ensure consumers are informed of how much they are paying towards the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme through tariffs; and if he will make a statement. [323429]
Joan Ruddock: The Government believe that improving the transparency of the costs falling to suppliers from meeting their supplier obligation and how they pass these costs onto consumers is critical. The Government's 'Warm Homes, Greener Homes' strategy published in early March set out the importance of greater transparency in any post 2013 energy company obligation, including around cost information. We continue to develop the detail of this arrangement, and will pursue new powers as necessary.
Carbon Emissions: Trees
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) of 8 February 2010, Official Report, column 734W, on trees, what is the estimated number of trees planted as a woodland creation carbon abatement measure that would offset one tonne of carbon dioxide. [323034]
Joan Ruddock: A hectare of new native woodland planted now in the UK would be expected to remove nearly 400 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2050, equivalent to six trees planted per tonne of CO2 sequestered by that time.
Departmental Consultants
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2009, Official Report, column 1120W, on departmental consultants, whether the number of consultants given in the answer was included in the figures for number of staff employed by his Department published in its most recent annual report. [321250]
Joan Ruddock:
The most recent annual report published was the 2009 Annual report. This report contained figures for Permanently Employed Staff (i.e. staff employed
directly by DECC) and 'Others' for the period 2008-09. Consultants were included in the total figure for 'Others'. The answer of 15 December 2009, Official Report, column 1120W, gave the number of consultants employed in DECC during December 2009.
Departmental Energy
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what (a) voltage optimisers and (b) equivalent technologies are used within buildings occupied by his Department. [323626]
Joan Ruddock: The Department occupies 3-8 Whitehall Place, London and two floors of Atholl House, Aberdeen. A voltage optimisation unit is installed in 3-8 Whitehall Place. There is no such equipment in Atholl House.
Departmental Publications
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the dates of publication of any regular statistics or reports by his Department have been affected by planning for the forthcoming general election. [323462]
Joan Ruddock: 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.
Domestic Appliances: Carbon Emissions
Mr. Roger Williams:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2010, Official Report, column 939W, on domestic appliances: carbon emissions, if he will make an estimate of the (a) number of domestic consumer electronics products which qualify for the Carbon
Emissions Reduction Target and (b) likely effect on the level of carbon dioxide emissions of the inclusion of those products in that scheme. [323991]
Joan Ruddock: 14 electronic product types qualify to be promoted by suppliers in support of achieving their household Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. Consumer electronic products make up just over 2 per cent. of savings towards the 185 million tonne lifetime carbon dioxide savings target to date (by end December 2009). This compares to some 62 per cent. of savings achieved through insulation products and 29 per cent. through lighting products.
Energy
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what tariff levels, expressed in kilowatt hours, he plans to set for new installations of energy plants providing energy by (a) anaerobic digestion, (b) hydroelectricity, (c) photovoltaic energy, (d) nuclear plants, (e) coal combustion plants, (f) oil combustion plants and (g) wind turbines in the period 2010-13; and if he will make a statement. [323548]
Mr. Kidney: From April 2010, Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) are issued per MWh for accredited installations over 50kW. The level of support granted to hydroelectricity, anaerobic digestion, solar photovoltaic and wind turbines through the Renewables Obligation is as follows, expressed in kilowatt hours (kWh):
Hydroelectricity: 0.001 ROC/kWh
Anaerobic digestion: 0.002 ROCs/kWh
Solar photovoltaic: 0.002 ROCs/kWh
Onshore wind: 0.001 ROC/kWh
Offshore wind: 0.002 ROCs/kWh (from 10 April; 0.0015 ROCs before then).
Feed in tariffs for projects up to 5MW are available from 1 April 2010. As well as a tariff for generation of low carbon electricity (shown in the table), an export tariff of 3p/kWh is available for all technologies under the scheme.
| Tariff level for new installations in period (p/kWh) | ||||
| Technology | Scale | Year 1: 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 | Year 2: 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 | Year 3: 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013 |
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