Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Chris Huhne and Lord Hanson of Flint
Chris Huhne
I am certainly interested to see the Bill’s progress, and I look forward to the full consultations with all interested parties, including the devolved Administrations, which might allow us to come to a satisfactory conclusion.
Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)
Will the Government, along with Ofgem, urgently look again at standing charges? In my constituency, Scottish Power has recently raised the daily standing charge from 15p to 31p, thus at a stroke adding £50 to my constituents’ bills.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Chris Huhne and Lord Hanson of Flint
Chris Huhne
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this important issue. It is a matter for DCLG, as she implied, although I have discussed it with that Department, and I expect an announcement shortly that I hope will indicate that some progress has been made.
Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)
Will the Secretary of State tell us precisely what percentage of the respondents to the recent FIT consultation supported the Government’s view? What assessment has he made of the impact of the review on manufacturers such as Kingspan in Hollywell in my constituency and Sharp in Wrexham, which he visited and lauded but has now pulled the rug from under?
Chris Huhne
I respect the right hon. Gentleman for standing up for his constituency—I would expect nothing less—but the responses to the FIT consultation were not as binary as he suggests. People did not give yes or no answers. We had to take a decision on the FIT programme for a simple reason, which was that, unfortunately, the planning that went into the announcement assumed that there would be no large-scale solar projects for three years. If the right hon. Gentleman, who was a Minister in the previous Government—as I well remember—is prepared to take responsibility for those assumptions, I would be very pleased, but sadly I am not. We have had to amend those assumptions and ensure that we have an affordable scheme that can provide steady growth—