Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Lilley Excerpts

Thursday 11th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

I certainly will. It sounds like an excellent initiative, and the hon. Lady will know that despite the catastrophic deficit that we inherited, early on we made £150 million extra available for skills. She is absolutely right that skills and retraining are vital, and I would be delighted to learn more about that institution. Perhaps one day I might be able to visit.

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

Given that the Government’s own impact assessment of the feed-in tariffs to which the Minister referred earlier shows that the costs exceed the benefits by a factor of 20, wasting £8 billion of taxpayers’ money, how does that fit in with the comprehensive spending review? Have green policies been exempted from it and become a form of financial self-flagellation?

[Gregory Barker]

Not when I last checked.

I am afraid there is a fundamental difference of approach between the coalition and my right hon. colleague. [Hon. Members: “Colleague?”] My right hon. Friend. I beg his pardon. The feed-in tariffs have to be seen as a key element of our policies to drive a decentralised energy revolution. If we decentralise energy production, it will have a large number of knock-on effects. It will engage communities and householders, who will become more responsible in the energy economy and take up opportunities that are currently not available to them in an old, 20th-century style of energy provision.