Isles of Scilly: Helicopter Services

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Teverson

Wednesday 24th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

As ever, my noble friend asks a very good question. There is an air ambulance service that can deal with medical emergencies. In addition, there is the search and rescue service from the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, following up the point made by my noble friend Lady Trumpington about medical services, these are very important because one of the key issues that has been identified is that fixed-wing services cannot substitute for the helicopter service in terms of speed or indeed handling individuals. I understand that the cost of RNAS Culdrose offering that service is £14,000 per return trip. What provision will be made over this winter for medical emergencies, not just for individuals but for medical supplies and blood samples, so that the islands are not isolated in this key way?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the problem we face is that we have lost the helicopter service to the Isles of Scilly for the time being. I understand that the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, which operates a fixed-wing air service, has now made arrangements with the local primary care trust to take over some of the transportation of patients and medical supplies, including blood products and samples, which were previously carried by helicopter, having secured the appropriate CAA licences. Noble Lords will recall that the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, identified that there were only a few days in the year when helicopter services could go to the Isles of Scilly but fixed-wing aircraft could not.

Energy: Biofuels

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Teverson

Monday 8th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, several government departments may be involved but my honourable friend Mr Norman Baker is in charge of the policy. It is complicated, but I believe that it is a good and efficient policy that provides biofuels in a most efficient way.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, making transport fuels sustainable has to be a key aim of a low-carbon economy as they account, I think, for a quarter of all carbon emissions. What research are the Government doing to make sure that we develop sustainable biofuels for the future? It is such an important area for a sustainable economy for the future.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I do not know what research has been commissioned but I would like to inform the House of one of the difficulties with biofuels, which is some of the complex effects of indirect land use change. For instance, if you start using tallow as a biofuel then the use of certain types of tallow could increase the demand for palm oil, which could have effects on land use change far away from the United Kingdom. It is a complicated area. There is research into understanding this, but I am not sure what research the Government are directly commissioning.

Aviation Policy

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Teverson

Monday 14th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, that is a rather detailed question and I do not know whether I will be able to get the answer even by writing, but I will try. I should emphasise that Heathrow is still well connected to the rest of the world, especially China, if you take into consideration direct flights to Hong Kong, which is connected to 45 other Chinese cities.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, will my noble friend the Minister reassure me that the British Government will resist efforts by China, the United States and other nations outside Europe to opt out of the EU emissions system, which is there to control carbon emissions for the whole aviation industry in a non-discriminatory manner?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, my noble friend asks a good question, although it is slightly wide of the Question on the Order Paper. We support the ETS scheme, but my noble friend will understand that there are difficulties with it as well.

Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2011

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Teverson

Monday 5th December 2011 Grand Committee

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the draft Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2011 will give legal effect to changes to an existing scheme that requires suppliers of fossil fuel for road transport to ensure that a proportion of the fuel that they supply comes from renewable sources. This is the renewable transport fuel obligation, or RTFO. The legislation before us is of key importance in our efforts to tackle climate change and will implement the transport elements of the EU renewable energy directive, or RED.

Biofuels are the only alternative to fossil fuel in transport that presently can be delivered on the scale required to meet our immediate environmental challenges. They will play a key role in allowing us to keep within our forthcoming carbon budgets and to meet our European renewable energy targets. However, biofuels are not the silver bullet that some once believed. There remain legitimate concerns about the sustainability of some biofuels. With this in mind, I make it clear that we are not setting out a new trajectory for increased biofuel targets beyond those already set under the current RTFO. The order is about making biofuels more sustainable; it is not about supplying more biofuel.

Given the environmental concerns and the need to consider how best to deploy biofuels across transport sectors, there is no proposal to increase the obligation levels already set under the 2007 order, which requires the level of biofuel to reach 5 per cent by volume of the total fuel used for road transport in the obligation year that starts in April 2013. The target will remain at these levels for subsequent years. This order would place a duty on the Secretary of State for Transport to keep under review the obligated levels set under the 2007 order. It is our intention to consult in 2012 on possible increases to the percentage of biofuel that will have to be supplied in the period 2014 to 2020.

It may be useful for me to provide a brief overview of the current regulatory framework so that the changes we are considering today can be better understood. Suppliers of fossil fuel for road transport have an obligation to supply a small percentage of biofuel alongside the fossil fuel: currently 4 per cent. Suppliers of biofuel are awarded a certificate for each litre of fuel that they supply. The renewable transport fuel certificates—RTFCs—can be traded on the open market. This means that entities supplying biofuels that do not have an obligation to do so may still benefit from helping obligated suppliers to meet their targets as they can sell their certificates to those suppliers that require them to meet their obligation. The buyout mechanism is in place to provide a safety valve that protects both industry and the consumer from spikes in the cost of supplying biofuel. Presently, industry also reports the performance of its biofuels against voluntary sustainability criteria. However, if we pass this order, the UK will reward only sustainable biofuel. This is the key issue today.

This amendment will introduce the mandatory sustainability criteria set out in the RED. This means that for the first time there will be a legal obligation on industry to supply biofuels that demonstrably reduce carbon emissions and can be shown to have been produced from feedstocks whose cultivation did not threaten areas of high biodiversity or damage carbon stocks. Suppliers must therefore be able to prove that their claims of sustainability are true. These sustainability data must be verified to the internationally recognised limited assurance standard by an independent third party before participants in the scheme receive the renewable transport fuel certificates that are used to demonstrate that their obligation to supply sustainable biofuel has been met. If companies continue to supply biofuels that do not meet these environmental standards, those biofuels will count as fossil fuels for the purposes of the RTFO and as such will serve to increase the supplier’s obligation to supply sustainable biofuel accordingly.

Another important driver behind this amendment is to further encourage biofuels made from the most sustainable feedstocks. Fuel made from wastes and residues will be eligible for double counting, receiving twice as many certificates by volume as biofuels made from other sustainable feedstocks. This double counting would also apply to biofuels made from lignocellulosic material and non-food cellulosic material; that is, woody matter as well as stalks and the like left over from agricultural crops.

We remain concerned that there are significant indirect impacts from some biofuels that are not currently addressed by the renewable energy directive. Earlier this year the UK published research on the scale of these impacts and we have written to the European Commission reiterating our belief that this is a pressing issue that must be addressed robustly at a Europe-wide level. As the directive currently stands, it does not take into account these indirect effects. While the extent of these impacts remains uncertain, there is robust evidence that widespread use of some biofuels can lead to significant indirect greenhouse gas emissions through the process known as indirect land use change, or ILUC.

The Government take the issue of ILUC seriously. Earlier this year the Department for Transport published research on the scale of indirect land use change impacts and we are continuing to lead work on how to tackle these, as well as encouraging the European Commission to address this issue on a Europe-wide scale with a robust solution. My honourable friend Norman Baker, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, has written to the European Commission twice, expressing the Government’s concerns regarding ILUC and pressing for robust and proportionate action to be taken to address the associated impacts.

We have also been consulting on guidance that will help suppliers and others with an interest in this industry to understand better how we take technical decisions in accordance with the order and how they are expected to comply with this legislation. This RTFO guidance will update existing guidance on process, carbon and sustainability reporting, verification and process-related issues for fuel suppliers.

I will now briefly summarise other key changes that would be delivered through this order. It would require suppliers to provide additional sustainability information. It would extend the RTFO so that biofuel suppliers, as well as those supplying fossil fuel for road transport, are obliged to register with the RTFO administrator and report on their biofuels. Small suppliers will still be outside the scope of the obligation in the light of the minimum supply threshold of 450,000 litres per annum, which will continue to apply. It would expand the RTFO so that all liquid and gaseous renewable fuels of biological origin that are for use in road vehicles are eligible for RTFCs.

This approach would enable more renewable fuels such as biomethanol, and partially renewable fuels, to be eligible for reward under the RTFO.

In order to allow maximum flexibility for industry while ensuring that the sustainability criteria are met, we are allowing suppliers to carry over RTFCs from one obligation period into the next, where the fuels associated with these certificates would have met the minimum greenhouse gas requirements in both periods.

This order will remove the duty on the RTFO administrator to report annually to Parliament. This is because the administration of the scheme is now carried out by a central government department rather than by a non-departmental public body, as had previously been the case. It is therefore subject to the usual ministerial oversight of departmental business, rendering additional reporting unnecessary. We are also proposing to amend the suite of civil penalties available to ensure compliance in order to reflect the changes made to other aspects of the order.

The changes before the Committee today are intended to ensure that biofuels used on Britain’s roads deliver real carbon savings and can demonstrate their sustainability. Through double counting, they will also encourage industry to seek out ways of delivering the most sustainable fuels. I therefore commend the order to the Committee. I beg to move.

[Lord Teverson]

I am happy to start, my Lords, as this is a very important area. I will start what I am about to say by showing how important it is. If you are a believer that global warming is one of the greatest challenges to this planet and to mankind, then this order is of particular importance. We often forget that transport accounts for 35 per cent of energy usage within the United Kingdom, so in order to meet our renewable energy targets of 15 per cent in 2020, and our decarbonisation targets of 80 per cent for the economy as a whole up to 2050, we obviously have to succeed in this area. If we do not, then we stand no chance of meeting our other targets. We know, however, that this has been one of the most contentious areas.

Sometimes those of us who get involved in debates about wind farms and nuclear energy think that it is one of the areas where there is most division and angst among Members of the House and the public at large. However, this is one of the areas where we are asking what is and what is not a sustainable biofuel, and whether biofuels are good or bad. As we go on, that division—which seems to have got wider—is of great importance.

We therefore have to make sure that we solve issues in this area. The renewable energy directive requires that we reach 10 per cent by 2020, and on this scale we get to 5 per cent by volume—but that is of course only 3.5 per cent by energy content in terms of that target.

I looked at one of the reports of the Committee on Climate Change. It is useful to remind ourselves as background that in terms of decarbonising this sector, as the Minister said, renewable liquid fuels are pretty well the only option in the short term. What are the alternatives? I note that the Committee on Climate Change is looking for 1.7 million electric or hybrid vehicles by 2020, which will be 16 per cent of all purchases of vehicles by that time. Frankly, we will be very lucky if we get anywhere near that figure, and we are not on the trajectory to achieving the target of having almost completely electric vehicles by 2030.

The other alternatives are hydrogen fuel, which seems to be a long way off, or second-generation biofuels. Since I have been involved in this debate, second-generation biofuels—let alone third-generation ones—have been talked about as if they are around the corner, and yet those debates have been going on for three or maybe five years, and they are still not here. What research and development and real impetus—by Europe, through the framework initiatives, and through our own government-sponsored research— is being put into these second-generation biofuels? Until we move on to those, I do not think that this issue is overly solvable.

Transport: Penzance and Isles of Scilly Ferry Service

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Teverson

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the Question was about the shipping link but I have asked about the helicopter link. I understand the difficulties with it and its viability.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, the proposed vessel for the crossing will operate all the year round. This is a major improvement for the islands’ opportunities. Cornwall Council, of which I am a member, has now put its money where its mouth is by backing this scheme. Will the Minister now concentrate on the scheme that is being put forward, rather than the many others that are less well informed, so that this decision can go forward positively and rapidly?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, we are concentrating on Cornwall’s proposals. Noble Lords should understand that this issue is not just about the ship. There are also proposals for the improvement of the harbours at Penzance and St Mary’s. I understand that St Mary’s harbour has some health and safety issues because mechanical handling equipment gets too close to pedestrians. There is an obvious safety risk that genuinely needs to be addressed. The noble Lord makes very good points.

Railways: Crossrail

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Teverson

Wednesday 23rd June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the answer is here somewhere in my brief. I assure the noble Lord that British industry is heavily involved in the Crossrail project. Some firms are based outside the UK but the roles are based inside the UK.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, can the Minister assure us that long-distance train services from south Wales and the south-west of England will not be disrupted during the construction of the Crossrail project?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, it will be clear that there must be some impact—I cannot say that there will be none—but the work will be carefully managed to minimise the impact on the travelling public.