PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

1057W
Written Answers
26 MARCH 2013
Written Answers
1058W
Miss Chloe Smith: As Minister with responsibility for
this policy, I have received a number of letters from
Members of Parliament expressing an interest in our
proposals for a statutory register of lobbyists. I have
also received correspondence on the matter from a
range of stakeholders.
The Government is committed to introducing a statutory
register of lobbyists. We are continuing to carefully
consider the evidence submitted in response to our
consultation and will publish revised proposals in due
course.
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister
what meetings he has had with interested parties on his
plans to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists since
September 2012. [150236]
Miss Chloe Smith: Cabinet Office Ministers have had
no meetings with interested parties on the Government’s
plans for a proposed statutory register of lobbyists since
September 2012.
The Government is committed to introducing a statutory
register of lobbyists. We are continuing to carefully
consider the evidence submitted in response to our
consultation and will publish revised proposals in due
course.
ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Carbon Sequestration: Tees Valley
Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for
Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has
made of the effect on (a) Teesside’s process industry
and (b) levels of unemployment on Teesside on his
decision not to award low carbon funding from the
CCS Commercialisation Competition to Teesside.
[149862]
Mr Hayes: The criteria by which projects in the
carbon capture and storage competition were assessed
are set out in the Invitation to Participate in Discussions
(ITPD) documentation. This is available on the Contracts
Finder website at:
http://www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/
(search CCS Commercialisation)
Following the announcement on the selection of preferred
bidders in the CCS competition on 20 March 2013, the
remaining two bidders, Teesside Low Carbon and Captain
Clean Energy, will be appointed as reserve projects.
These bids may be called to participate in the next stage
of the competition if one or both of the preferred
bidders fails to enter into a front end engineering and
design (FEED) contract by the summer.
Disclosure of Information
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy
and Climate Change how many civil servants in his
Department have been subject to non-disclosure
agreements in each year since 2010. [150031]
Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and
Climate Change has interpreted the hon. Member’s
reference to ’non-disclosure agreements’ as relating to
individual compromise agreements between the Department
and a current or former employee under which the
employee or former employee has received a negotiated
sum to specifically secure the confidentiality of the
settlement.
Our records show that one such compromise agreement
was concluded in the period from 1 January 2010 to
date.
Energy: Housing
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for
Energy and Climate Change what the total annual
expenditure on (a) electricity and (b) gas by domestic
users was in each year since 2003. [149864]
Gregory Barker: DECC publishes data on total annual
expenditure on electricity and gas by domestic consumers
in Table 1.1.6 of the Digest of UK Energy Statistics
(DUKES): The latest published data are shown in the
following table:
Annual expenditure (£ million)
Electricity
Gas
2003 7,660 6,260
2004 9,120 8,285
2005 9,665 8,215
2006 11,340 10,100
2007 12,540 9,950
2008 14,245 12,070
2009 14,535 12,605
2010 14,085 14,275
2011 14,695 12,310
Data for 2012 are not yet available.
The Digest of UK Energy Statistics is available on
the DECC website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-ofenergy-climate-change/series/digest-of-uk-energy-statistics-dukes
Energy: North Sea
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State
for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment
he has made of the infrastructure developments
required at ports on the north-east coast to
accommodate future growth in the offshore (a) oil and
gas and (b) renewable energy industries. [149490]
Mr Hayes: The National Policy Statement for Ports,
which was designated in January 2012 and is available
on the gov.uk website, strongly emphasizes the vital
importance of the UK port sector in catering for a
range of energy imports and exports including offshore
wind and hydrocarbons. Ports in the north-east of England
are well placed to respond to the demand in these
sectors.
Fuel Poverty
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy
and Climate Change how many and what proportion
of people lived in fuel poverty in each of the last 30
years (a) nationally and (b) in each region. [149355]
Gregory Barker: The following table shows the number
and proportion of households in fuel poverty for each
country in the UK, for each year that data is available
since the measurement of fuel poverty started in 1996.