Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the Government spent from the public purse on (a) subsidies, (b) investment and (c) research and development in the biomass energy sector in each of the last 10 financial years and to date in the 2018 - 2019 financial year.

a) Subsidies

The costs of subsidy schemes which support renewable generation technologies are levied on consumer electricity bills. The Office for Budget Responsibility publish forecasts of the overall spend on such schemes at each Fiscal Event. However, certain biomass technologies are supported through the Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI), which is funded from general taxation. The RHI spend on biomass energy over the last 10 financial years to date, in £GBP is as follows:

The RHI opened to applicants in 2011 so there is no data for earlier years. These figures are based on meter readings from RHI participants. There is a lag in BEIS receiving this data, so the data for more recent years (2017/18 and 2018/19) is not yet final.

b) Investment & c) Research and Development

There is no single data repository for historical information on cross-government investment into energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D). The best available record of government investment in renewable energy technologies is the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Energy Technology RD&D Budget Database, which this Department and its predecessor (Department of Energy and Climate Change) contribute to. The IEA’s database allows users to track trends in spending by energy technology in IEA countries back to 1974. You can find the information you require at: http://www.iea.org/statistics/rdd/.

Whilst, the IEA’s Database is the most complete and best available historical record, given the long time period, the range of government departments and agencies involved, and different interpretations of what classifies as energy RD&D, the reported figures could be imperfect and/or incomplete. The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is currently reviewing how this data is collected and reported, to improve data accuracy and confidence in the future. The table below, available on the IEA website, shows the amount spent on biomass energy innovation per financial year to the nearest million in £GDP (blank cells is where data is unavailable):