HC Deb 06 November 2002 vol 392 cc350-8W
Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she intends to publish her Department's review of local authority energy efficiency activity. [77452]

Mr. Morley

Our original intention was to publish the results of this review earlier this year. However, with the publication of the Performance and Innovation Unit's Energy Review in February and the Home Energy Conservation Bill that dealt with many of the key issues for the review, we decided to delay publication until we were able to take account of these.

The Government are now working on its Energy White Paper. This will be a statement of Government energy policy, including energy efficiency. We have decided that the review findings should contribute to the White Paper, which will be published around the turn of the year.

Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the outcomes to date of the Energy Efficiency Commitment Scheme; what further steps are planned; and what(a) consultation on and (b) assessment of the scheme (i) has taken place and (ii) is planned. [77593]

Mr. Morley

The Regulator, Ofgem, is responsible for operating the Energy Efficiency Commitment 2002–2005 (EEC) and for providing information to the Secretary of State on progress. Suppliers have been submitting energy efficiency schemes to Ofgem since February 2002 and measures equating to 5.9 TWh in energy savings had been installed or delivered by the end of September. Suppliers will continue to work on these and further schemes to deliver their energy efficiency targets by March 2005.

We consulted widely on the EEC, culminating in the issue of statutory consultation proposals in August 2001. We will consult on any changes to the scheme that may be proposed.

Each supplier is required to report to Ofgem on a quarterly basis and Ofgem must report annually to the Secretary of State on progress with the EEC. Ofgem's first report, on the year ending in March 2003, must be submitted to the Secretary of State by 31 July 2003.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to ensure that(a) registered social landlords, (b) utility companies and (c) Government-run energy efficiency or fuel poverty schemes provide information to energy conservation authorities on the energy efficiency improvements carried out in their area; and if she will make a statement. [77459]

Mr. Meacher

The Government fully support the need for energy conservation authorities to be given information on the improvements made in domestic energy efficiency in their area by other agencies, to assist their reporting under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995.

During the Home Energy Conservation Bill 2001, the Government proposed that registered social landlords should provide information to energy conservation authorities on energy efficiency improvements they had carried out. This proposal came to nothing when my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton Kemptown withdrew this Bill. However, registered social landlords are already required by the Housing Corporation to report on progress against the Decent Homes target, which includes energy efficiency, on a voluntary basis for 2002. The provision of this information will be compulsory from 2003.

Discussions are continuing between gas and electricity suppliers and the Energy Saving Trust to provide this information on a voluntary basis. We hope that these will lead to a voluntary agreement but this is a difficult area, raising complex legal issues. Should no agreement be reached, we will consider using existing legislation to make this a requirement on these companies. But this would not be our preferred route.

The private sector companies managing the Government's energy efficiency scheme are already contractually required to provide this information to authorities on an annual basis.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many local authorities are on course to meet the targets contained in their strategies under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995; what measures she proposes to ensure that these targets are met; and if she will make a statement. [77473]

Mr. Meacher

Energy conservation authorities have identified their own targets, based on the measures in their energy conservation reports. The reports show measures that, if implemented, have the potential to achieve an overall improvement of 30 per cent. over twelve years from 1996. These targets are not statutory and it is for authorities, working in partnership with others, to implement the measures in order to meet them.

Authorities report progress towards their targets each year. A list of the latest progress by authorities was placed in the Libraries of the House following my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker) on 19 June 2002, Official Report, column 371W.

The overall average reported improvement in the first five years was 8 per cent. It is therefore clear that authorities are not going to make the improvements they originally hoped for. Decisions about the future role of local authorities in local energy efficiency are expected to be covered in the Energy White Paper, which the Government aims to publish early in the new year.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets are in force to reduce the consumption of energy within buildings occupied by central Government; and if she will make a statement. [77448]

Mr. Meacher

The Government plan to use benchmarking of individual buildings against national standards in order to set a new energy consumption target for 2010. This target will require the central Government estate to be performing better than the national average. The analysis required to set a specific target is still underway but it is hoped that it will be in place in the coming year. In the meantime, the estate has an interim target of reducing carbon emissions by an additional 1 per cent. each year relative to 1999–2000.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the local authorities she has contacted regarding underperformance on their targets under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995, and indicate how these authorities were identified. [77455]

Mr. Morley

My right lion. Friend the Secretary of State has not contacted any local authorities regarding underperformance against their targets under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to require local authorities to appoint an officer to work on strategies they have drawn up tinder the Home Conservation Act 1995: and if she will make a statement. [77472]

Mr. Morley

The Government have no plans to require this. It is for local authorities to determine their staffing structure to meet their statutory responsibilities and other priorities.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has received concerning the need for statutory targets for local government to be applied to energy conservation in the home. [77417]

Mr. Meacher

The Local Government Association has expressed concern about applying statutory domestic energy efficiency targets to local authorities.

As well as a large amount of correspondence from individuals, we have received the following representations from organisations in support of having statutory targets in the Home Energy Conservation Bill 2001.

  • Association for the Conservation of Energy
  • British Energy Efficiency Federation
  • Blaby Constituency Labour Party
  • Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency
  • Daventry District Council
  • Derbyshire County Council
  • The Green Party
  • Friends of the Earth
  • HECA Partnership for 30 per cent.
  • Herefordshire Green Party
  • Hyndburn Borough Council
  • National Energy Services
  • Northamptonshire County Council
  • Oadby and Wigston Borough Council
  • Oldham Council
  • Oxfordshire County Council
  • Preston Borough Council
  • Assoc. for Environment Conscious Building
    • 353W
  • Council for Energy Efficient Development
  • District of Bolsover Labour Group
  • Draft Proofing Advisory Association
  • Insulated Render and Cladding Association
  • Kingspan Insulation
  • National Association of Loft Insulation
  • Contractors
  • National Cavity Insulation Assoc.
  • Oxfordshire County council
  • Redditch Green Party
  • Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Salford Community Health Council
  • Socialist Environment and Resources
  • Association
  • UK Mineral Wool Association
  • Vent Axia Ltd
  • Wandsworth Green Party

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will make her next report to Parliament under sections 3(4) of the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995. [77474]

Mr. Morley

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no immediate plans to make such a report to Parliament.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what representations her Department has received concerning the progress of energy conservation authorities towards meeting the 30 per cent. target in improvement in energy conservation by 2010; [77419]

(2) what representations she has received from (a) local authorities and (b) others on the ability of local authorities to meet their targets under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995. [77468]

Mr. Meacher

There are no statutory requirements for energy conservation authorities to make a 30 per cent. improvement in domestic energy conservation by 2010. However, authorities have prepared reports which show measures that, if implemented, have the potential to achieve an overall improvement of 30 per cent. over twelve years from 1996.

We have not received any representations regarding authorities' progress towards meeting these targets, other than the reports that energy conservation authorities submit each year under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995. A summary of these reports is in the House Library.

During the course of the Home Energy Conservation Bill 2001, we received representations from Chichester District Council and the Local Government Association expressing the view that local authorities could not guarantee they would achieve their energy efficiency targets in the domestic housing sector as they had limited powers to ensure savings were made. We also received a number letters from individuals suggesting that making targets statutory would enhance local authorities' ability to achieve their HECA targets.

Gregory Barker (Bexhill & Battle)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will list the home energy conservation programmes which have(a) been delayed and (b) failed since 1997. [77413]

Mr. Morley

There have been a large number of home energy conservation projects since 1997, the large majority of which are outside the Government's direct control. These include projects by local authorities, gas and electricity suppliers, the Energy Saving Trust and voluntary organisations.

The Government's main programme in England for tackling fuel poverty through improving energy efficiency is the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme, now marketed as the Warm Front Team. The scheme is funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Warm Front was launched in June 2000 and provides packages of insulation and heating measures up to £2,500 to private sector households, on certain benefits.

For the period June 2000 to June 2002, Warm Front assisted over 400.000 households and spent over £200 million on installing measures. The programme remains on target to reach our PSA requirement of assisting 600,000 vulnerable homes by 2004.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to ensure that the performance figures collected to show local authorities' progress on strategies drawn up under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 can be compared between authorities. [77458]

Mr. Morley

It would be helpful to be able to make better comparisons between comparable authorities' performance. But this could only be achieved by having a single monitoring method. Defra has provided software to all authorities in England, free of charge, to help them monitor improvements in domestic energy efficiency. This is just one of a number of energy efficiency monitoring tools available. We believe that authorities should have the choice of which software package or monitoring method they use. They do, however, have to provide evidence as part of their annual progress reporting that they are using a robust monitoring method.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to meet the target of reducing energy used in the domestic sector by 12.5 per cent. by 2010; and if she will make a statement. [77464]

Mr. Morley

Decisions about targets and policies for reducing energy use in the domestic sector will be covered in the Energy White Paper, which the Government aim to publish around the turn of the year.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to strengthen the powers, duties and funding of local authorities to enable them to play an enhanced role in local energy efficiency activities. [77441]

Mr. Morley

Decisions about the future role of local authorities in local energy efficiency are expected to be covered in the Energy White Paper, which the Government aim to publish around the turn of the year.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what representations her Department received from(a) the Treasury and (b) other Government Departments (i) prior to and (ii) following the withdrawal of the Home Energy Conservation Bill; [77405]

(2) what representations her Department received from the Treasury concerning the saving to that Department as a result of the withdrawal of the Home Energy Conservation Bill; [77408]

(3) what representations her Department has received from the Treasury prior to the withdrawal of the Home Energy Conservation Bill concerning the cost of a statutory target of 30 per cent. in domestic energy improvement by 2010. [77406]

Mr. Morley

Other Government Departments have been consulted at each stage of the Home Energy Conservation Bill's progress. We have discussed the implications, including those for Government and local authorities, of having a 30 per cent. improvement in domestic energy efficiency as a principal aim in this Bill.

However, it is established practice under exemption two of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information not to disclose information relating to internal opinion and advice or confidential communications between departments.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department received from(a) pensioner groups (b) Greenpeace, (c) the Association for the Conservation of Energy, (d) Friends of the Earth, (e) Help the Aged and (f) Age Concern, (i) prior to and (ii) following the withdrawal of the Home Energy Conservation Bill. [77402]

Mr. Meacher

The Department has received the following representations regarding the Home Energy Conservation Bill, prior to and following it's withdrawal;

  1. (a)
    1. (i) North West Pensioners Association, Warrington Branch have expressed support for the Bill.
    2. (ii) None.
  2. (b) No representations have been received from Greenpeace
  3. (c)
    1. (i) The Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE) have expressed their opposition to the Government's amendments at Committee Stage of the Bill.
    2. (ii) ACE have written to say that the Department's failure to endorse targets in the Bill has sent worrying signals regarding long term commitments in their industry.
  4. (d)
    1. (i) Friends of the Earth have expressed support for the Bill and amendment Ila in particular as well as opposing the Government amendments at Committee Stage,
    2. (ii) None
  5. (e) No representations have been received from Help the Aged
  6. (f) No representations have been received from Age Concern.
The Department has also received representations from the HECA Partnership for 30 per cent. (which includes ACE, Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged) expressing opposition to Government amendments at committee stage, urging Ministers to support the Bill, supporting statutory targets in the Bill, discussing the costs of implementing targets and appointing designated HECA officers.

We have also received the minutes of their steering group meeting on October 15, 2001, which record unanimous support for the Bill.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment she has made of the adequacy of local authorities' progress towards meeting their targets under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995; and if she will make a statement; [77453]

(2) if she will list the energy conservation authorities that are on target to meet the requirements of a 30 per cent. improvement in energy conservation by 2010. [77420]

Mr. Morley

There are no statutory requirements for energy conservation authorities to make a 30 per cent. improvement in domestic energy conservation. However, authorities have prepared reports which show measures that, if implemented, have the potential to achieve an overall improvement of 30 per cent. over twelve years from 1996.

Authorities report progress towards their targets each year. A list of the latest progress by authorities was placed in the Libraries of the House following my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker) on 19 June 2002, Official Report, column 370–371W.

The overall average reported improvement in the first five years was 8 per cent. It is therefore clear that authorities are not going to make the improvements they originally hoped for.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the saving in carbon dioxide emissions would be if energy efficency in the domestic sector was improved by(a) five per cent., (b) 10 per cent., (c) 15 per cent., (d) 20 per cent., (e) 25 per cent. and (f) 30 per cent. by 2010 based upon current levels. [77465]

Mr. Meacher

The estimated reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that would result from the various improvements in domestic energy efficiency by 2010 are set out below.

Energy Efficiency Improvement Relative To 2000 Level Projected CO2 Emissions Reduction In 2010 (Million Tonnes Of Carbon Per Year)
5% -1.8
10% 0.4
15% 2.5
20% 4.7
25% 6.9
30% 9.1

Note:

Estimates based on demand growth scenario compatible with DTI Energy Paper 68 projections of energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions, and using underlying rate of improvement in energy efficiency derived from BRE analysis of insulation ownership, and trends in heating efficiency.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the robustness of the targets under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995; what plans she has to strengthen them; and if she will make a statement. [77469]

Mr. Meacher

Energy conservation authorities were required to submit their energy conservation reports to the Secretary of State by 30 November 1996. All reports received were evaluated against the requirements of the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 and each authority given feedback. It was for authorities to determine their own targets, based on local circumstances. The Secretary of State was not in a position to assess whether these targets were realistic.

If the Home Energy Conservation Bill 2001 had become law, then the Secretary of State would have had a new power to set statutory targets for authorities. We understand that Dr. Turner plans to re-introduce his Bill next session.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has received from the Association for Public Health(a) prior to and (b) following the withdrawal of the Home Energy Conservation Bill. [77410]

Mr. Morley

The Department has not received any representations on the subject of the Home Energy Conservation Bill from the Association for Public Health either prior to or following the withdrawal of that Bill.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representation her Department has received concerning the future of the Home Energy Conservation Bill. [77449]

Mr. Meacher

We have not received any representations concerning the future of the Home Energy Conservation Bill since that Bill was withdrawn.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the representations submitted to her Department from hon. Members(a) in support of and (b) against statutory targets prior to the withdrawal of the Home Energy Conservation Bill. [77404]

Mr. Meacher

The Department has received 25 letters from hon. Members expressing their personal support for targets in the Home Energy Conservation Bill. This is in addition to a large number of letters from MPs covering those from constituents who were in favour of targets in the Bill. We have not received any representations from hon. Members expressing the view that the Bill should not contain targets or forwarding letters from constituents with that view.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what procedures are in place to measure progress made in energy conservation in the home since the implementation of the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000. [77418]

Mr. Meacher

The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 requires energy conservation authorities to prepare reports setting out progress with implementing their energy conservation reports. In 1999–00, authorities were asked, as part of the HECA progress report, whether they had prepared a fuel poverty report. Each year since then, they have been asked to report on progress with its implementation.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has received concerning the re-introduction of a Bill aimed at improving domestic energy efficiency. [77409]

Mr. Meacher

Blaby Labour Party has expressed support for the idea of future home energy efficiency legislation. Defra also received a number of letters from individuals which broadly express support for future legislation in this area.

Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the rules for assessing energy savings of appliances under the Energy Efficiency Commitment Scheme. [77592]

Mr. Morley

The Regulator, Ofgem, is responsible for administering the Energy Efficiency Commitment 2002–2005, including determining what improvement in energy efficiency should be attributed to energy efficiency measures proposed by electricity and gas suppliers. Its procedures for doing so are set our in its "Energy Efficiency Commitment Administration Procedures" published in December 2001 and available at www.ofgem.gov.uk.

Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has received from the Centre for Policy on Ageing(a) prior to and (b) following the withdrawal of the Home Energy Conservation Bill. [77411]

Mr. Morley

The Department has not received any representations on the subject of the Home Energy Conservation Bill from the Centre for Policy on Ageing either prior to or following the withdrawal of that Bill.

Forward to