Greg Mulholland
Main Page: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)(14 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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.