Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the cost to the public purse was of developing proposals for a new carbon capture and storage project at Peterhead.

The Government continues to view CCS as having a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors and we are engaging closely with the Peterhead developer and wider CCS industry. The Department has paid £28.5 million between 2011/12 and November 2015 on developing proposals for a new carbon capture and storage project at Peterhead. This included the investment in Front End Engineering and Design work to determine the cost and feasibility of the project, independent professional technical, legal, financial and commercial advice and civil service staff.