Anne Begg
Main Page: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)
Charles Hendry
My hon. Friend will be aware that the United Kingdom is third from bottom in Europe on the electricity it gets from renewable sources, so the situation here is in no way comparable to that in most other European countries. We are absolutely committed to giving local communities greater say on the issues—that is at the heart of the Localism Bill. We are also determined that the host communities should realise real benefits.
Miss Anne Begg (Aberdeen South) (Lab)
Perhaps a solution to the question the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) has just raised is to put the wind farm offshore. Will the Minister join me in congratulating a project in Aberdeen that yesterday secured €40 million of EU funding to build a centre just off the coast of Aberdeen that will develop technologies that can be used to improve the offshore wind sector?
Charles Hendry
I am delighted to join the hon. Lady in congratulating the company on that development. It is one of the areas of the country where there is the greatest potential, because the skills are already there in the engineering side of the oil and gas sector and the people who work in the area. We hope to see significant gains for the north-east of Scotland from developing those technologies.