Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which provider supplies energy to his Department; how much CO2 was emitted through his Department’s energy consumption in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria his Department uses to select an energy supplier includes how environmentally friendly the supplier is; and what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce CO2 emissions from its energy use.

The Department is mandated to use the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Energy frameworks for the supply of gas, electricity and liquid fuels. The CCS competes the frameworks on the open market and the criteria used to select energy suppliers is set by Crown Commercial Services. The current suppliers of each of these services are as follow:

• EDF (Half-Hourly electricity);
• British Gas (Non Half-Hourly electricity);
• Corona (gas); and
• various suppliers (liquid fuels).

In 2018/19, the Department emitted 5,241 t/CO2e through its energy use which represents a 70 per cent reduction compared to 2009/10. This has been achieved largely through improved building management (primarily relating to heating and cooling), adopting more resource efficient behaviours, more efficient use of space, and co-location.