Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much was paid by the Department for International Development to green energy campaign groups between 2010 and 2015 (1) in the UK, and (2) internationally, both as a total and as a percentage of the Department for International Development's development expenditure.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
DFID does not fund any green energy campaign groups in the UK. DFID’s Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) funding to Civil Society enables organisations to achieve international development outcomes. Some organisations may choose to use DFID funding for advocacy efforts, including on climate, within the countries in which they work
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that cost-effectiveness in spending improves as the International Climate Fund scheme expands.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) report published in December last year assessed the ICF as Green-Amber, meaning that it “performs relatively well overall against ICAI’s criteria for effectiveness and value for money”, noting that it “built up significant momentum and is now well placed to deliver on its ambitious objectives”.
The Government’s response to the report was published in November 2014 and sets out the steps that we are taking to improve further the impact and cost-effectiveness of the International Climate Fund (link attached).
We will continue to learn from and improve the robust approach to programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation within the ICF to ensure continued cost-effectiveness as the ICF expands in the next Spending Review period.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to ensure that civil servants respond to comments in the 2014 report on the UK's International Climate Fund (ICF) by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact that pressure to spend ICF funds quickly has not always been conducive to effective delivery.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government’s response to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s review is available online. We accepted or partially accepted all of ICAI’s recommendations and we are on track to implement or have already implemented the actions set out in this response.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in 2014, what percentage of the International Climate Fund was spent on (1) low carbon development, compared to the original target of 30 per cent, and (2) adaptation, compared to the original intention of 50 per cent.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The original thematic splits for the International Climate Fund (ICF) were revised in 2013 as part of a strategic review of the Fund. The revised goals are for a 50:50 split over the 2011/12 – 2015/16 Spending Review period between low carbon development and adaptation, with forestry contributing equally to both themes.
As reported in the International Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) report in 2014, at the end of the 2013/14 financial year, the ICF had spent 45% of its budget (£1.75bn), with 56% going towards mitigation, 28% on adaptation and 16% on forestry. In 2014 the International Climate Fund spent a total of £880m, with 41.8% on low carbon development and 42.3% on adaptation. The remaining spend was mainly directed at forestry programmes, with a small amount categorised as cross-cutting.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current cost per kilowatt hour of public subsidies for (1) oil, (2) gas, (3) coal, (4) nuclear, and (5) wind solar, power stations.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government currently does not provide subsidies to oil, gas, coal or nuclear power stations.
The ring fence tax regime for oil and gas does include allowances, such as the Investment Allowance, which are designed to reduce the impact of the supplementary charge ensuring otherwise economic investment is not uncommercial. Upstream companies continue to pay Ring Fence Corporation Tax at a rate of 30% (which is higher than the 20% mainstream rate of Corporation Tax rate paid by other sectors).
Top up payments provided through Contract for Difference (CfD) and Capacity Market (CM) are expected to come online in the next decade and therefore do not count towards current levels of subsidy. Please note that these payments have been awarded on a competitive basis and are technology neutral.
In relation to successful technologies of the Capacity Market auction, such as coal, gas, and existing nuclear, payments for 2018/19 have been awarded at £19.40/kW. CM payments are to provide revenue certainty to capacity providers that in a perfectly functioning energy market and absence of a CM would have accrued to them in any case. Therefore CM payments are certainty over future revenues rather than subsidy as such.
In relation to the nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear CfD is expected to come online at the start of the next decade. The strike price for Hinkley Point C was agreed and announced in 2013. It has been set at £92.50/MWh fully indexed to the Consumer Price Index.If the final investment decision is taken on Sizewell C, the Strike Price for Hinkley Point C will be reduced to £89.50/MWh, on the assumption that EDF will be able to share first of a kind costs of EPR reactors across Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C sites.
Wind and solar technologies are currently subsidised through the Renewables Obligation and the Feed-in-Tariff, which respectively support large scale and small scale renewable generation. In Northern Ireland there is no Feed-in-Tariff and the Renewables Obligation subsidises both large and small scale renewable generation.
The current solar PV and wind subsidy levels for the Renewables Obligation (RO) are set out in the table below. These figures reflect the current 2015/16 banding levels, they are based on a Buy-out price of £44.33 per RO certificate, and are expressed in 15/16 prices.
RO (Great Britain) : Solar PV | |
Installation | Subsidy (p/kWh) |
Ground Mounted >1MW | 5.8 |
Building Mounted >1MW | 6.6 |
RO (Northern Ireland) : Solar PV | |
Installation | Subsidy (p/kWh) |
17.7 | |
50kW-250kW | 8.9 |
>250kW | 6.6 |
RO (Great Britain) : Wind | |
Installation | Subsidy (p/kWh) |
Onshore > 5MW | 4.0 |
Offshore >5MW | 8.4 |
RO (Northern Ireland) : Wind | |
Installation | Subsidy (p/kWh) |
Onshore | 17.7 |
Onshore 50kW-250kW | 4.4 |
Onshore >250kW | 4.0 |
Offshore >250kW | 8.4 |
The current solar PV and wind subsidy levels for the Feed-in-Tariff are set out in the table below.
FIT : Solar PV | FIT: Wind Onshore | ||
Installation | Subsidy (p/kWh) | Installation | Subsidy (p/kWh) |
12.5 | 13.7 | ||
4-50kW | 11.3 | 100–500kW | 10.9 |
50-150kW | 9.6 | 500–1,500kW | 5.9 |
150-250kW | 9.2 | 1,500-5,000kW | 2.5 |
250-5000kW | 5.9 | ||
Stand alone | 4.3 | ||
The figures are taken directly from the generation tariffs reported in Ofgem’s FIT Tariff Tables available on the attached links, and are expressed in 15/16 prices.
Please note that we are proposing to revise the subsidy levels for solar PV under both the FIT and the RO, and for wind under the RO. Awarded Contracts for Difference for solar PV and wind will come into place in the next few years.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much capacity of coal-fired energy plants in megawatts is scheduled to be closed in the United Kingdom between 2015 and 2020; and what assessment they have made of the capacity to be opened in Asia between 2015 and 2020.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Decisions to close power stations are taken by their owners based on market conditions. The owners of coal plants with a combined capacity of 5.8GW have announced their intention to stop generating by March 2016. We are not currently aware of any other coal fired power stations planning to close between 2015 and 2020.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) produces detailed assessments of global and regional energy trends. The IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook projects that of the 1404 GW cumulative increase in generating capacity in Asia between 2014 and 2025, 471 GW will be coal-fired. Renewables are projected to grow by 666 GW. This is against a background of rapidly rising demand for electricity in the region, with consumption expected to grow by more than 40% between 2012 and 2020.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of solar panels in the United Kingdom include technologies incorporating (1) cadmium, and (2) cadmium telluride.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The Government does not keep statistics on the specific technology of installed solar panels.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guarantees installers are obliged to give that they will correctly and completely dispose of solar panels at the end of their working lives; and who has to pay the cost of disposal.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Since 1st January 2014, the 2013 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations require producers of photo-voltaic (PV) panels to take on the financial obligations arising from the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of PV panels when they become waste, irrespective of when they were placed on the market.
The WEEE regulations also place obligations on distributors selling PV panels to private households to have a procedure in place to take back PV waste or, alternatively, they must pay into a Government-approved Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS), which provides funding to local authority household recycling centres.
Separate rules also apply to ensure PV panels supplied to business end-users are properly treated when they become waste. Treatment of all WEEE, including PV panels, must be undertaken in line with best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques to ensure that it is disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 18 March (WS 50–52), how many trustees have been removed by the Charity Commission since 2007; how many trustees have been suspended by the Commission since 2007; and what discussions they have had with the Commission about its using its powers to investigate a breach of charitable law.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The number of trustees of charities suspended or removed by the Charity Commission in each year since 2007 can be seen in the table below:
| Number of trustees suspended | Number of trustees removed |
2013/14 | 4 | 0 |
2012/13 | 0 | 0 |
2011/12 | 1 | 0 |
2010/11 | 1 | 0 |
2009/10 | 1 | 0 |
2008/09 | 1 | 1 |
2007/08 | 7 | 6 |
A number of meetings have been held with the Charity Commission to discuss its use of regulatory powers. The draft Protection of Charities Bill, announced as part of the Queen's Speech, would strengthen the powers of the Charity Commission to tackle abuse in charities.
Asked by: Lord Donoughue (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord de Mauley on 11 March (WA 374), what offence would be committed by an RSPCA inspector making entry, or attempting to make entry, to private property of a private home without the permission of the owner.
Answered by Lord Faulks
If the RSPCA are investigating an allegation of animal cruelty and the owners do not cooperate or refuse entry to their property, the RSPCA would normally call upon the assistance of the police. The RSPCA has no special powers for entry or search and seizure – these powers lie with police constables and some local authority officers.
As such they would be subject to the law as any member of the public would be.