Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Hugh Bayley and Lord Barker of Battle(11 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
My hon. Friend makes a good point. We have an ambitious plan for solar, focused on rooftops, on-site generation and brownfield sites. That is why this summer we toughened up the planning guidance, distributed it to local authorities, and made it absolutely clear that the need for renewable energy does not automatically override environmental protections and the planning concerns of local communities. I want to see our guidance in force, and I will be writing to local planning bosses to make sure that they take it on board.
Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
T2. Under this Government, according to Ofgem’s latest figures, average household fuel bills have increased by £315 a year, while wholesale energy prices have gone up by just £145 a year. That leaves a gap of £170 a year. How much of that is made up by the extra tax taken by the Government from consumers, and how much by higher profits taken by the energy companies?
Shale Gas Profits
Debate between Hugh Bayley and Lord Barker of BattleWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Hugh Bayley (in the Chair)
It is for the Minister to present his arguments as he sees fit. He has made it clear that he does not want to take an intervention at this stage.
Gregory Barker
I am also mindful that the debate was secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood and that it is unusual for other Members to speak as well. The hon. Member for Preston has done well already, so in the remaining time I should answer my hon. Friend.
The national planning policy framework requires planning authorities to assess applications for all minerals developments so as to ensure that permitted operations do not have unacceptable adverse effects on the natural or historical environment or on human health, including from noise, dust, visual intrusion or migration of contamination from the site. In doing so, they should take into account the cumulative effects of multiple impacts from individual sites or a number of sites in a locality. Conditions can be placed on working hours at a site or on numbers of traffic movements to ensure that any effect on local residents remains within acceptable bounds.
I hope that I have assured my hon. Friend that we will continue to maintain our responsible, thorough and rigorous approach. Within that framework, Government consider shale gas to be an interesting new prospective source of UK energy supplies. I again welcome the debate and the further opportunity to explain the Government’s positive approach to a potentially valuable addition to our energy resources, but my hon. Friend is right that we must ensure that local communities suffering the inconvenience that comes with development should have a share in the economic benefits. I assure him and my other hon. Friends from Lancashire that that will be one of the many considerations examined should shale gas in the UK prove to be a successful proposition and we move to the development phase.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Hugh Bayley and Lord Barker of Battle(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.]
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Hugh Bayley and Lord Barker of Battle
Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
11. What steps he plans to take to increase energy efficiency in housing.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
The green deal is our ambitious new programme to transform energy efficiency in housing and in small and medium-sized enterprises. From late 2012, home owners, landlords and tenants will be able to install energy efficiency at no up-front cost, with repayments coming from their energy bill savings. Alongside the green deal, the energy company obligation will offer targeted support to the fuel poor and hard-to-treat homes.
Hugh Bayley
On 30 June, the Committee on Climate Change published its third report to Parliament, saying the following about emissions from residential buildings:
“Implementation of measures slipped in 2010. There will be a need for a significant acceleration in the pace of emissions reduction if indicators and carbon budgets are to be achieved”.
Will the Secretary of State therefore table an amendment to the Energy Bill before the summer recess to produce a statutory strategy to ensure that these targets are met?
Gregory Barker
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: not only did we slip slightly last year in the final throes of the regime that we inherited from the previous Government, but if we had carried on at the rate of progress of the previous Labour Government it would have taken 80 years to retrofit homes to the standard that we hope to achieve in two decades. We will certainly be linking the green deal to our commitments in the climate change legislation, and that is an amendment that we introduced and is included in the Energy Bill.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Hugh Bayley and Lord Barker of Battle
Gregory Barker
My hon. Friend has fought a vigorous campaign on behalf of this exciting new form of energy. I am delighted to say that, at my direction, officials are actively examining the practical and legal aspects of an exploration licensing scheme covering geothermal heat and power projects, which will be vital to unlocking the true potential of this renewable energy source.
Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
3. When he last met representatives of (a) Ofgem and (b) energy suppliers to discuss consumer energy prices.