§ Mr. Nigel GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to encourage local councils to follow the lead of the Houses of Parliament in introducing energy-efficient lighting to cut costs and save energy; and whether he will assist them with such schemes.
§ Mr. BaldryEarlier this year I hosted a series of seminars, organised jointly by the Department of the386W Environment and the Energy Efficiency Office, to encourage local authorities to take up the opportunities for energy efficiency improvements, including the use of low energy lighting, in order to cut their costs and help to limit United Kingdom carbon dioxide emissions. Under the revised capital finance arrangements authorities can recycle revenue savings from such investment back into their capital programmes. We are discussing with the local authority associations ways of overcoming any barriers to the take-up of such cost-saving investment.
We have made resources available for energy efficiency investment in local authority housing under the "Green House Demonstration Programme". In April we announced supplementary credit approvals for 70 schemes. A number of these include the installation of energy-efficient lighting. A further £50 million will be available under this programme next year.