Hugh Bayley
Main Page: Hugh Bayley (Labour - York Central)(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Gregory Barker
I was delighted that this week we were able to launch the UK’s first marine energy park, and under the coalition marine energy in the UK is finally getting the drive forward that it has needed for years. The hon. Gentleman played a key role in developing marine energy potential in Scotland, and I should like to invite him to host a board meeting of the marine energy programme board in Caithness in the summer, where I hope we shall have some good news on the creation of the second marine energy park in the UK, in Scotland.
Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
18. What support his Department provides to community initiatives to help households reduce their carbon emissions.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
The coalition has big ambitions for community energy. Last week, we announced 82 community winners in the first tranche of DECC’s £10 million competition to help mobilise community energy groups. I will be announcing funding for at least another 100 winning schemes early next month. This new fund is just one element of our strategy to drive local and community energy action.
Hugh Bayley
We need consistency in Government policy. City of York council has spent time and money developing a solar energy scheme for council houses, and yet it has been blown out of the water by the Minister’s announcement of 31 October. In order to ensure continuity of policy, do the Government agree that those councils whose schemes to develop solar energy for council houses were being developed before the announcement should continue to get the feed-in tariff at the previous rate?
Gregory Barker
Unfortunately, the scheme that the hon. Gentleman refers to—the feed-in tariffs—was devised and implemented by Ed Miliband—[Interruption.]