The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department is providing to recipients of Green Deal funding whose vouchers expired before their home improvements were completed.
Andrea Leadsom
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 26 May 2016, Question number 37787.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her latest estimate is of the amount of solar PV that will be installed under the Feed-in Tariff scheme in 2016-17.
Andrea Leadsom
Detailed deployment projections (in terms of capacity and number of installations) for solar PV under the revised feed-in tariff scheme in 2016-17 are set out in Annex B of the impact assessment published alongside the FIT Review government response. This can be found at
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her policy is on her Department’s April 2014 Solar Strategy document.
Andrea Leadsom
Solar is a UK success story: since the previous Government’s April 2014 Solar Strategy was published, we’ve more than doubled the capacity of UK solar, and industry expect that we have already exceeded the forecast of 10GW by 2020 made in that document.
However, the position of this Government is clear: we can only expect bill payers to support low carbon power if costs are controlled; subsidy should be temporary, not part of a permanent business model; and as costs come down, as they have for solar, so should support.
We are encouraged by the way the solar industry is responding to the policy changes we have made in order to control costs: deployment of solar under the revised FIT scheme continues and several developers are putting together models to encourage their customers to install solar without subsidy – the models needed to create a sustainable sector for years to come.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when the Government plans to publish its response to the December 2015 HM Revenue and Customs’ consultation on increasing VAT for domestic solar.
Andrea Leadsom
The UK has applied a reduced rate on 11 different types of energy saving materials since 2001. That remains in place and remains unchanged.
HMRC are currently considering the responses to their consultation on energy saving materials and they will respond in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the annual budget is for food produced for her Department’s offices; and what proportion of food produced for her Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not have an annual food budget. Catering services are provided via a DEFRA contract which is operated on a nil subsidy basis.
Annual spend is determined by the contractor and is informed by private sales to members of staff.
Forty-eight percent of food and drink provided through this contract is sourced from UK producers (based on figures for Jan-Mar 2016). This proportion reflects that a large volume of food and drink sold to staff includes non-indigenous products such as rice, pasta, tea, coffee and bananas, and that as this period falls in the Winter season there are out of UK seasonal products procured from the wider EU.
One hundred percent of beef, chicken, lamb, pork, free range eggs, milk and yoghurt is sourced from the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department is providing to recipients of Green Deal funding who have had their home improvements interrupted because the contracting companies have ceased trading.
Andrea Leadsom
Under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF), where applicants had their home improvements interrupted, they were free to engage another approved installer to undertake the work within the six month validity period of their voucher. The GDHIF scheme was designed to provide a financial incentive for work to be done at the applicant’s instigation. Installers were required to come from an approved list but applicants were responsible for engaging an installer. The same response applies where vouchers expired before home improvements were completed; the responsibility rests with the applicant to ensure works were completed before the voucher expired.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Kerevan on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports the Government has received on involvement by the China National Nuclear Corporation in the illegal supply of 5,000 ring magnets to Pakistan of a type suitable for use in gas centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
There were media reports in the mid-1990s of a transfer of 5,000 ring magnets by the China National Nuclear Corporation to Pakistan. China strongly denied government awareness or involvement. In 2004 China joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which the UK is also a member, which agrees guidelines for the transfer of potentially sensitive nuclear-related technologies and material between states.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Energy Technologies Institute report, published on 12 May 2016, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy of carbon capture and storage technology contributing to meeting the UK’s commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government views Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as having a potentially important role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s economy. The Government will set out its approach to CCS in due course, and the recent Energy Technologies Institute report, funded by DECC, will inform the Government’s thinking.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent assessment she has made of the financial viability of (a) carbon capture and storage and (b) alternative options in helping to reduce the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government views Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as having a potentially important role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s economy. However, CCS is currently too expensive and costs must come down. Government will set out its approach to CCS in due course, informed by the findings from Lord Oxburgh’s CCS Advisory Group.
In comparing the costs of other low-carbon technologies in the future, DECC typically use the levelised costs of electricity generation. Levelised costs include capital and operating costs over the lifetime of a plant, as well as DECC estimates of projected fuel and carbon costs.
We are currently undertaking a comprehensive review of our evidence on levelised costs of electricity generation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy of the conclusion of the Energy Technologies Institute report, published on 12 May 2016, that there are no technical hurdles to permanently and safely storing large quantities of carbon dioxide off the coast of the UK.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government views Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as having a potentially important role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s economy. The Government will set out its approach to CCS in due course, and the recent Energy Technologies Institute report, funded by DECC, will inform the Government’s thinking.