§ Mr. MadelTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the development of combined heat and power/district heating in Edinburgh.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonMy Department has carefully considered the report prepared by the Edinburgh CHP consortium. I accept the consortium's judgment that the options they studied are insufficiently attractive economically to proceed without further substantial support from public funds.
It is the Government's long-standing policy that combined heat and power-district heating schemes should be taken forward by the private sector. The consortium has been informed that under these circumstances, I am not prepared to meet their requests for further financial support.