Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Greg Mulholland
Gregory Barker
If the hon. Lady had been at the comprehensive spending review, she would know that the Chancellor has already committed £1 billion as a backstop. Indeed, he told the Treasury Select Committee last Thursday that that would be just a backstop and that significant further funds would come from asset sales. I appreciate the hon. Lady’s eagerness to support a Conservative and Lib Dem proposal, but I have to say that we are going to get this right, and we will come forward with a robust proposal by next spring as a matter of urgency.
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)
14. What plans he has for the future of feed-in tariffs for small-scale renewables; and if he will make a statement.
Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)
16. What plans he has for feed-in tariffs for small-scale renewables; and if he will make a statement.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
As indicated to my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke) earlier, I confirmed in last month’s spending review that the coalition is fully committed to feed-in tariffs for small-scale renewables.
Greg Mulholland
I thank the Minister for that answer. Local councils have a crucial role to play, so what will the Government do to encourage them to take advantage of feed-in tariffs—especially small-scale feed-in tariffs—so that they can make money for local services as well as cut carbon emissions?
Gregory Barker
The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. One of the first things that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State did was to abolish the previous ban on local authorities selling electricity to the grid. That will now help to create a new, exciting market. We are also making more information available to advise local authorities and communities on how they can access financial incentives.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Greg Mulholland
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)
13. What his Department’s priorities are for the implementation of the EU’s carbon emissions reduction target of 30% by 2020.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
The Government believe that despite the current challenging outlook for a binding global agreement on carbon emissions, the EU should be taking a more ambitious leadership role. We will be urging our European partners to agree an early EU move to the 30% reduction target. That would put Europe firmly on a path to a low-carbon economy, stimulating innovation and efficiency and meeting the twin challenges of climate change and energy security. The details of how the EU would implement a higher target are yet to be agreed.
Greg Mulholland
I thank the Minister for that answer and for the leadership that the Government are giving on this issue. Can he give an indication of the realistic possibility of the EU’s actually hitting that target; and are other countries as committed to it as we are in this country?