Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the number of jobs that will be lost as a result of the closure of the subsidy scheme for new onshore wind farms.

There were an estimated 19,000 people employed in the onshore wind sector in 2013, including in the supply chain. [1] We now have enough onshore wind in the pipeline, including projects that have planning permission, to meet our 2020 renewable electricity objective of between 11-13GW of electricity from onshore while remaining within the limits of what is affordable. This pipeline of projects will deliver new jobs across the UK.

[1] The Size and Performance of the UK Low Carbon Economy: Report for 2010 to 2013 (March 2015) BIS: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416240/bis-15-206-size-and-performance-of-uk-low-carbon-economy.pdf