§ Mr. LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate his Department has made of the likely impact on the targets for emissions of gases agreed at Kyoto of(a) the lifting of the moratorium on gas-fired powered stations in the UK and (b) the lifting of the moratorium on gas-fired powered stations in the UK accompanied by the phasing out of coal-fired power stations. [79358]
810W
§ Mr. Battle[holding answer 30 March 1999]: The White Paper of October 1998, 'Conclusions of The Review of Energy Sources for Power Generation and Government response to fourth and fifth Reports of the Trade and Industry Committee' (Cm 4071), set out the Government's programme of reform in the electricity market and introduced a stricter policy on consents for gas-fired stations to protect diversity and security of supply while the programme of reform was under way. The White Paper discussed the environmental aspects of the Government's policy in chapter 9 (`Achieving sustainable energy supplies'). An environmental appraisal was provided as Annex H.