Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that price comparison websites do not mislead retail energy customers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
It is vital that customers trust price comparison websites, as they offer real opportunities for improving competition and I expect price comparison websites to be clear to consumers when they are not providing a whole market tariff comparison.
Ofgem are currently consulting on proposals to allow price comparison websites to only show those tariffs that consumers can switch to through the price comparison website as a default, but they must also provide quick and easy access to a webpage showing all tariffs available on the market. The consultation closes on 28 September and is available online at
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/08/whole_of_market_consultation.pdf
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when the application for state aid clearance for the remote Scottish islands will be submitted to the European Commission.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will publish plans for the next Contract for Difference Allocation Round for less established technologies – planned for the end of 2016 – as soon as possible.
Following this we will work to deliver the round, including submission of any necessary notification to the European Commission.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the remote Scottish islands projects will be eligible to compete in the forthcoming Contracts for Difference auction process.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The announcement at Budget on 16 March 2016 of £730M for the three ‘Pot 2’ (less established technologies) auctions this Parliament demonstrates this Government’s firm commitment to supporting renewable deployment.
The Budget 2016 also reconfirmed plans to run the first Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction this Parliament at the end of the year – with a budget of £290M – enough to support around 1GW of new deployment from 2021/21.
We are currently finalising plans and priorities for the 2016 round and plan to announce further details in relation to the next round, including technology eligibility, later this Spring.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the potential economic benefits of the remote Scottish islands onshore wind projects for the (a) regional economies of the islands and (b) wider UK supply chain.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2013, the previous Government undertook an independent study to assess whether Scottish Island Renewables could make a cost effective contribution to meeting the UK’s renewable energy targets and to determine whether any additional measures are required to bring these projects forward. The report can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/scottish-islands-renewable-project-final-report.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the application for state aid clearance for the remote Scottish islands has been submitted to the European Commission.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are currently finalising plans and priorities for the 2016 Contracts for Difference (CfD) round and plan to announce further details in relation to the next round, including notification of State Aid to the European Commission, as soon as possible.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which infrastructure projects in Scotland have received European Commission funding in each of the last five years; and how much each project received in each year.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Scottish Government, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), funded 148 infrastructure projects during the 2007-2013 period totalling in excess of £128m. Lists of all projects funded under both the Highlands and Islands, and the Lowlands and Uplands ERDF programmes can be found on the Scottish Government website.
Scotland’s infrastructure continues to benefit through the following projects:
Information on transport projects funded by the European Commission under the TEN-T programme and the Connecting Europe Facility can be found at the Innovation and Networks Agency website. Scotland is involved in the Intelligent Transportation Systems Deployment project led by the Department for Transport (Arc Atlantique) which is listed there.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans to open her Department's consultation on changes to the Warm Home Discount scheme.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government announced in the Spending Review on 25 November 2015 that the Warm Home Discount scheme would be extended to 2020/21 at current levels of £320m per year, rising with inflation, to help households who are at risk of fuel poverty with their energy bills. Government will publically consult on changes to the scheme later this year.