Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Chris Huhne(13 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Chris Huhne
There is no question of anybody’s investment being undermined by any of our decisions, because this Government—in this respect, I think we are no different from previous Governments—are very committed to not having retrospection in legislation and legislative changes. However, we keep all our subsidies under review. I just told the hon. Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) that we are cutting subsidies for onshore wind turbines by 10%, and that reflects what is going on in the real world. I recently visited a project run with the city council in Birmingham, where people were able to show me invoices from solar panel suppliers showing that they had managed to get a 33% reduction in the cost of solar panels in just one year. It is absolutely right that the Department goes on looking at the appropriate levels of subsidies to bring on these important technologies, and that is obviously what we will do.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
2. What progress he is making on ensuring that off-grid households have access to affordable heating fuels in the winter of 2011-12.
Electricity Market Reform
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Chris Huhne
Chris Huhne
I can assure the hon. Gentleman that coal is an important part of our energy mix now and going forward, which is why we have found £1 billion in the comprehensive spending review to fund CCS. Indeed, there has been a substantial increase in deep-mine coal over the past year.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
My constituents in Suffolk Coastal, which I christened the “green coast” in my maiden speech, will be very happy with the announcement of these reforms. Given those announcements, will the Secretary of State indicate when something such as Sizewell C might be built?
Chris Huhne
The first of the new power stations is at Hinkley Point—construction of the earthworks is already under way—and the others will arrive in fairly short order after that. There will be a further opportunity to consider that in detail during the debate on the national policy statements on Monday.
Nuclear Industry Safety
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Chris HuhneUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Chris Huhne
As I said in my response to the question asked by the right hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Joan Ruddock), the cost impact may well be limited by the fact that the programme is at the design stage. I can also tell the hon. Gentleman that the Government do not propose to subsidise nuclear reactors or to invest public money in them. The funding will be up to private investors, who have shown no lack of desire to finance a new nuclear programme.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
Every time I go home to my village of Westleton, I see the white dome of Sizewell B. My local energy company is very concerned about safety, and is not at all complacent. I am sure that it will welcome the additional review.
On the matter of nuclear industry safety, the newly formed Office for Nuclear Regulation is part of the Health and Safety Executive, which reports to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it would make sense to transfer responsibility for the ONR to his own Department, so that all nuclear matters can be—so to speak—under one roof?
Chris Huhne
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question and, in particular, for the benefit of her scientific background. The first read-out of our nuclear regulatory system produced very good results in comparison with those in other countries, and we were recently given a clean bill of health by the IAEA inspection team. The system is very independent: for example, in the event of a hazard, our regulators are able to shut down the facility immediately with no political sign-off. We have agreed that the Office for Nuclear Regulation will be set up statutorily as an independent body, which is entirely appropriate.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Chris Huhne(13 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Chris Huhne
We are looking at exactly what the specifications should be under the green deal. I want us to get in as much as possible. Given that the scheme will be much bigger than any that we have had before, one of the points that we are discussing with the industry is whether those economies of scale can be reflected in the prices of energy-saving products. If we can do that, we can make them susceptible to the green deal to a much greater extent. However, I would also refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) concerning solid-wall insulation. There are technological improvements being made in this area that I would not rule out as a source of comfort for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
20. What recent steps he has taken to facilitate direct passage of the gas generated from anaerobic digestion into the national transmission system.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Chris Huhne(13 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Chris Huhne
The hon. Gentleman should be very aware that the coalition Government are committed to no public subsidy for the nuclear industry for some very good reasons, one of which is in the quotation that he so gracefully supplies to the House.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
18. What recent discussions he has had with energy companies on domestic oil pricing.
I declare an interest, as my home is heated by domestic oil.
Annual Energy Statement
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Chris Huhne
Chris Huhne
The hon. Gentleman really does not get it yet, and I am afraid that he shares that with a lot of his colleagues on the Labour Benches. The reality is that the fiscal constraints under which this Government are now labouring—I use that word advisedly—are such that we are having to look with extraordinary forensic acuteness at spending right across the board. The days when he and his colleagues were able to sign blank cheques and leave them like confetti across the country are over. If he has not yet woken up to that fact, he had better do so pretty soon, because the electorate will not take him seriously until he does.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement and invite him to come to Suffolk Coastal or, as I rechristened it in my maiden speech, the green coast, where he will see a range of energy schemes such as those that he is proposing. However, in considering the subsidy that is given to the production of offshore energy, will he also consider how we get that energy onshore? One of the great ironies would be the production of all this very environmentally friendly energy but the blight of pylons right across areas of outstanding natural beauty and beautiful countryside.
Chris Huhne
My hon. Friend is right to raise that issue. We are indeed considering the transmission regime to ensure that we get the appropriate type. One of the big issues is that we essentially have a cost profile for the transmission regime that is based on an incentive to put mobile power stations as close as possible to their markets. That is absolutely fine when we are dealing with sources of energy that are mobile, but increasingly we are dealing with sources of energy that are not mobile. If we want to build wind turbines, we have to put them in areas where there is wind and where there is an economic basis for doing so. My hon. Friend’s point is a significant one for us in the Department, and we are addressing it.