Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Thursday 27th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

4. What steps he is taking to develop community energy.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)]

This year the coalition launched the UK’s first ever Government community energy strategy. That marks a profound step change for the energy sector and includes a series of ambitious new measures. To take that agenda forward, the Department is setting up a dedicated community energy delivery unit.

[Duncan Hames]

Those are wide-ranging plans that have been long in gestation. I am sure that the Minister is as keen as I am to take specific steps to help clean our energy supply and sustain local communities. What specific measures in the plan will enable local communities to take a lead in developing renewable energy in their area?

[Gregory Barker]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s long-standing interest in campaigning for renewable energy. Let me assure him that there is a great deal of meat in the community energy strategy. We are establishing a £10 million urban community energy fund, providing seed funding for a one-stop-shop information resource, launching a £100,000 community energy saving competition, and setting up an industry-led taskforce to achieve greater shared ownership of onshore renewables. Altogether, it is a bold vision with a plan for delivery.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

Opposition Members might have had a bit too much Red Bull this morning.

The figure was 219 at the end of October, but that is the number of measures installed using finance. The really exciting thing is that tens of thousands of green deal measures have been installed, with people using the cash-back or their own money. So compelling is the green deal that people want all the savings now. If people want to take all the savings now by recognising that green deal measures are a great investment, that is a good thing. We will continue to improve the finance offer, but the green deal is up and running and it is a long-term programme.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Earlier this month I was fortunate to hear a presentation to the Transcoco—Transition Community Corsham—group in Corsham by an early adopter of the green deal. Although he was satisfied with the payback period on his green deal loan, what was striking from his presentation was that the assessment revealed some pretty fundamental flaws in his home’s energy insulation, despite the fact that it was built less than 10 years ago. Will the Minister speak with colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government about the enforcement of the existing building standards on new housing developments, because the failure to do that is costing ordinary people a lot in their bills?

[Gregory Barker]

The hon. Gentleman is right. For 13 years, under the previous Government, there was lamentable enforcement of building standards. In fact, none of us can think of a single case that was prosecuted. He makes a very valid point. I will talk with my right hon. and hon. Friends in DCLG to see what more we can do to ensure that standards are adhered to.

--- Later in debate ---

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Parish councillors near Melksham in my constituency are looking forward to the community dividend on offer from developers who propose new solar power farms in the area. When will we have more clarity on such arrangements and when will the Government publish their community energy strategy?

[Gregory Barker]

My hon. Friend will not have long to wait before we publish the community energy strategy. This Government are gripping the potential of community strategy. No previous Government have recognised the potential of communities to take control of energy. Thanks to innovation and new technologies, and the financial support we are putting in place, community energy has an exciting future, solar included.

Energy Price Freeze

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Wednesday 6th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

The hon. Gentleman did not actually speak in the debate.

The net impact would be to hurt the fuel-poor, to hit hard-working people, and to clobber families and pensioners on tight budgets. We are not in this for 20 months; we are in it for the long term. For the first time in 13 years, we have a Government who are planning and taking decisions in the long-term interests of British consumers.

[Duncan Hames]

rose—

[Gregory Barker]

I give way to my hon. Friend, who made an excellent speech.

--- Later in debate ---

[Duncan Hames]

We have heard from the Opposition that they believe that legislation would be necessary to introduce this price freeze. Even if this Government were to table such legislation tomorrow, what would stop energy companies hiking their prices before it became law?

[Gregory Barker]

They have hiked them before and they could hike them afterwards.

The long-term impact of the freeze would be to decimate investment and to drive away consumers. The very-long-term secure energy supply we are trying to build would vanish at a stroke, and the poorest and the most vulnerable would pick up the price tag. We know that Labour Members cannot freeze prices—it is a con to suggest that they can—but, as we heard again and again today, they would succeed in freezing out competition, choice and investment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Thursday 6th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

I welcome the Minister’s support for biomass boilers, but the renewable heat incentive was announced in October 2010. Why is it not possible to open up the domestic scheme for payment before spring 2014?

[Gregory Barker]

It has been much more challenging than we anticipated, not least because when we entered government we found that the previous Government had done absolutely no work on this whatsoever. This is the first renewable heat scheme of its type in the world, and heat is much more difficult to quantify and value than exporting electricity, but it is good news. We prioritised industrial heat and are now moving on to domestic heat, and I am looking forward to the scheme’s launch this spring.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

In how many of the homes in need of improved insulation does the Minister expect measures to be taken over the remainder of this Parliament?

[Gregory Barker]

We do not have an exact figure, but we do think the green deal framework, supported by the ECO, is the best way of driving forward the very ambitious take-up of insulation measures that we will need not just in this Parliament, but throughout the decade.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

Yes, I did, but there was a little more context to it. If the right hon. Lady stopped muttering and rabbiting on, she would hear what I am saying. If she would like the answer, 22 GW is certainly our ambition, but in order to meet that ambition we need not just deployment, but deployment at a level that the country can afford. That is what we are about on the Government Benches—delivering renewables at a rate that the country can afford and that delivers good value to consumers, as opposed to the open handed, open cheque book, high-cost model deployed under the Labour party.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

T5. Both the Energy and Climate Change Committee and the independent Committee on Climate Change have argued that the Government should set a carbon intensity target for the power sector. Does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree with them?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Thursday 11th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

Really, is he still banging on with the first half-year’s crib sheet? I thought the hon. Gentleman had come with some fresh material.

We are absolutely committed to a thriving nuclear industry, not just for the domestic sector but for export opportunities. Participants in the industry to whom I talk are very confident about the outlook for the British nuclear industry.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

4. What discussions he has had on climate change financing in the UN Secretary-General’s high-level advisory group on climate change financing.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)]

Over the past year, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had wide-ranging discussions on potential sources of climate change financing as part of his involvement in the high-level advisory group on climate change financing. The discussions have focused on how developed countries can meet their Copenhagen accord commitment to mobilising $100 billion a year of public and private finance by 2020, to assist poorer countries with the climate challenge.

[Duncan Hames]

I thank the Minister for that reply, which I am sure we will be able to explore further in my Westminster Hall debate on Cancun next week. Last week’s report should be welcomed for presenting several innovative sources of climate finance, including a tax on aviation and shipping. When can we expect the Government to set out concrete proposals for taking forward any of those options?

[Gregory Barker]

They were of course options for the international community, not just for the UK, and we need to do a lot more work collectively to put the flesh on the bones of detailed and radical proposals so that the UK can consider each of them on their merits. I fear that there is still some time to go before we are in a position to do that, but the UK is very much committed to the process and to doing so sooner rather than later.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barker of Battle and Duncan Hames

Thursday 16th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

3. What outcomes his Department is seeking to achieve at the Cancun conference on the UN framework convention on climate change in December 2010.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)]

The new coalition Government are absolutely committed to achieving an ambitious global deal to cut emissions sufficiently to keep the rise in global temperatures below 2°C and also to providing support to developing countries in adapting to the inevitable consequences of climate change. However, although we are not raising expectations of a legally binding treaty being achieved at Cancun, we want to see substantive progress at COP 16.

[Duncan Hames]

I thank the Minister for that comprehensive response, on which I hope we have a debate in the House soon. Does he accept that climate finance is critical to reaching an effective agreement? We need the UN advisory group on climate finance, on which the Secretary of State sits, to provide not only a menu of options for the future, but concrete recommendations that can be agreed now.

[Gregory Barker]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the Secretary of State is an important member of that group. Its report will be published later in the year. Here in the UK, we are taking an active role in trying to develop the private sector solutions that must be part of the overall funding package for developing countries, both in adaptation and mitigation.