Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Tony Baldry and Lord Barker of Battle(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Gregory Barker
So it is inadequate. We now need to move on, not just to simple measures such as loft insulation, but to a much broader holistic approach to home insulation—whole house retrofits. They are more complex and more expensive, but they also cannot be done just with subsidy. The Labour party has to make a choice. Do Labour Members want to force up consumer bills giving ever more subsidy to a small number of people, or do they want to work with us to create a genuine new market where people are incentivised to pay for themselves?
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
The green deal has the potential to revolutionise energy efficiency, but we all need to understand how we can ensure that our constituents link into it. What is my right hon. Friend doing to ensure that the green deal is as straightforward and efficient as possible, and that as many people as possible in north Oxfordshire can benefit from it?
Gregory Barker
During the past few months we have certainly been taking advantage of the fact that we now have the green deal up and running, and we have been improving the experience of the green deal, both for the consumer and the supply chain. We have now had more than 145,000 assessments by the green deal, and we know that it is getting high levels of customer satisfaction and that more than 80% of people who have had an assessment are moving on to install measures.
Feed-in Tariffs
Debate between Tony Baldry and Lord Barker of Battle(12 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Urgent 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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Gregory Barker
Earlier this morning, I placed a written statement in the Library, and I encourage the hon. Gentleman to download the full consultation document. If he does so, he will find all the proposed tariffs, with the various options, set out very clearly. We would welcome his, and all other, contributions to this discussion.
Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
Will my hon. Friend confirm that the subsidies are paid not by the Treasury but by consumers as a whole—by other electricity users—and that we must therefore strike a fair balance between the consumers who are benefiting from the subsidy and every other electricity consumer?
Gregory Barker
That is absolutely right; my hon. Friend is spot on. Under the scheme we inherited from Labour, a very small number of people were enjoying bumper returns. Our improved scheme is much fairer. Under it, there will be far more deployment and at a fairer rate, which will be better news for consumers—who, as my hon. Friend rightly points out, pay for this through their bills.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Tony Baldry and Lord Barker of Battle
Gregory Barker
As the hon. Lady knows, we are meeting not just the steel manufacturers, such as those in her constituency, but a range of energy-intensive industries. I will be meeting the chief executives of several before the House rises for the recess. We are considering a range of measures in conjunction with the Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and in the autumn we will announce the result of that collaboration.
Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
18. If he will take steps to simplify energy tariffs for consumers.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Tony Baldry and Lord Barker of Battle
Gregory Barker
Absolutely, and in the absence of a global treaty, the work that GLOBE does—and my hon. Friend does very valuable work as vice-president of GLOBE International and president of GLOBE UK—including its recent study of global climate change legislation, is extremely valuable, and we certainly support it and would encourage it to go further.
Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Tony Baldry and Lord Barker of Battle(13 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Gregory Barker
We are determined to transform the level of green growth in this country, and certainly on the level that we inherited from the last Labour Government. It is instructive that in the offshore wind industry, 80% of those huge installations, on average, were contracted and manufactured abroad under Labour. That has to change; we need the investment and supply chain here in Great Britain.
Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
Will Ministers make time in their diaries to visit the Bicester eco-town project, which is a private sector-led initiative intended to be an international exemplar of how to build large-scale, low or no-carbon housing and develop large numbers of green-collar jobs?
Gregory Barker
That is a real recommendation coming from my hon. Friend, who has considerable expertise and a long-standing interest in these matters. The place he mentions sounds extremely interesting, and I hope that perhaps one day he will think of proffering an invitation to me to come and visit.