Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Lord Barker of Battle

Thursday 6th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

My hon. Friend is right. We are very concerned by the impact of EU tariffs on the UK solar industry. In the past three years we have added about 2.5 GW of solar here in the UK. We are making great progress but that could be jeopardised if those tariffs go ahead. I have personally been to Brussels with a number of key stakeholders from the UK solar industry to lobby the Commission, and we will continue to fight on for open borders and for the interests of the UK renewables industry.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain why the UK has fallen to seventh in the world for investment in clean energy since the Government came to power?

[Gregory Barker]

There are a number of surveys, but the Ernst and Young survey shows that the UK is now the fifth most attractive place for renewables investment and deployment, up one place on last year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Lord Barker of Battle

Thursday 31st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

11. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

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

The green deal, which went live on Monday 28 January, will help to transform the homes of British consumers over the coming decade and beyond. This transformational policy, alongside the ECO and smart meter roll-out, will drive the development of a new energy efficiency market, providing unprecedented choice, benefits and access to low-cost finance for British consumers.

[Nick Smith]

Cold weather payments were triggered recently, as deep snow covered Blaenau Gwent, yet in recent months 181 insulation workers have been made redundant in Wales. Instead of the hyperbole, has not the Government’s introduction of the green deal and ECO sadly been woeful?

[Gregory Barker]

Once again, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will see that the insulation industry has a huge opportunity to move beyond just installing measures such as loft insulation to whole-house retrofits. Of course the industry is in a period of transition, but unless we take this bold step and create a much larger market, we will never tackle fuel poverty and turn around the juggernaut of increasing fuel poverty figures that we inherited from the last Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Lord Barker of Battle

Thursday 13th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

My hon. Friend is right. If we are to see progress that allows us to clinch that global deal in 2015, we need much more momentum and we need to build momentum at national level as well. The UK has led by example but we are also now engaged with countries such as South Korea, China and Mexico, and other countries with which GLOBE is familiar, to see how we can work together in partnership to drive real progress on the ground, as well as with the private sector.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

May I press the Minister on that? How much of the UK funds delivered through the international climate fund will benefit businesses in Britain’s low carbon sector?

[Gregory Barker]

I am delighted to say that making sure that our international climate fund benefits the UK low carbon sector is a key aim of our policy. That is why I took a trade mission—the largest ever green trade mission—to east Africa in October, and I will be going in the new year to the middle east, taking more of our renewables companies, to make sure that where we are supporting developing countries, UK industry gets the benefit of that, and in the long term, probably more than the total spend.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Lord Barker of Battle

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

First, let me make it absolutely clear that green deals are not loans—certainly not loans as most people understand them. Everybody taking out a green deal should be better off, net-net, on their energy bill after they have had the interventions. It is not something that anybody could feel unable to afford. For those on particularly low incomes, where more work needs to be done on the home than can be financed on a green deal plan, there is £1.3 billion ECO—energy company obligation—programme, which will unleash a huge wave of investment to bring up to standard the homes of the most vulnerable and poorest.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

3. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

--- Later in debate ---

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

The green deal, together with the energy company obligation, is the coalition’s transformational programme to help consumers make energy saving improvements to their homes. We expect the first green deal finance plans to be written by the end of January next year. Our ambitious roll-out of smart meters will have reached every home in the country by 2019.

[Nick Smith]

Homes in Blaenau Gwent, some more than 1,200 feet above sea level, need energy saving insulation now. Locally based RIS Insulation says there is a serious gap in Government policy as the green deal will not offer loans until late next year and that many jobs could be lost. How are the Government going to bridge that gap?

[Gregory Barker]

I am very pleased to correct that misinformation. The green deal finance plans will be written from January next year. The ECO is already in place, while the carbon emissions reduction target and the community energy saving programme will continue through to the end of this year, so there is a substantial programme of work that is seamless, running from the end of CERT and CESP right through to the take-up of the more transformational green deal programme.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Lord Barker of Battle

Thursday 19th May 2011 Commons Chamber

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

The ECO is being designed specifically to tackle fuel poverty and hard-to-treat homes. Although it is too early to set exact numbers for the scheme ahead of our consultation on the ECO in autumn I fully expect a far greater level of resource to be brought to bear on the fuel-poor than was previously the case under the carbon emissions reduction target or Warm Front.

[Nick Smith]

I thank the Minister for his reply. Parts of Blaenau Gwent are 1,200 feet above sea level and it gets cold in winter. Given the established relationship between excess winter deaths and low indoor temperature, and given that the UK has a higher rate of such deaths than Scandinavian countries, will he ensure that the ECO prioritises a reduction in excess winter deaths?

[Gregory Barker]

The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point. As I also sit on the Cabinet Office’s Public Health Sub-Committee, I am very aware of the issue he raises. That is why we are absolutely clear that the ECO must be focused on the fuel-poor and hard-to-treat homes and why we must have an impact on exactly the statistic that he mentions in relation to his constituency.