Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the Answer of 7 October 2019 to Question 290330 and to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 290324, if she will introduce the same policy as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and switch to an electricity provider that supplies electricity solely from renewable resources within 12 months; and for what reason her Department has not already ensured its electricity is supplied solely from renewable resources.

All government departments are mandated to use the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Energy frameworks for the supply of gas, electricity and liquid fuels.

The CCS competes the frameworks on the open market and selects the energy providers according to a set of award criteria, normally based on price and quality. The current suppliers of each of these services are:

• EDF (Half-Hourly electricity);
• British Gas (Non Half-Hourly electricity);

The department transferred the facilities management of its main buildings at 3 Whitehall Place and 55 Whitehall Place, London to the Government Property Agency (GPA) in September 2019. The GPA is responsible for the supply of electricity to these sites. Prior to this the Ministry of Justice was responsible for providing facilities management services, including the supply of electricity.

The department occupies other properties both in the UK and internationally. The supply of electricity at these sites including the choice of supplier is either the landlord’s or main occupier’s responsibility.