As the first degression for wind tariff bands was only introduced on 1 April 2014, it is too early to say what impact it has had on manufacturing and employment in the sub-15kW wind sector. Up to the end of 2013, over 5,150 wind installations had been accredited for FITs, and this pace of deployment has shown no signs of slowing since April 2013. The degression mechanism is very important for the cost control of the FITs scheme and for keeping the cost to the electricity consumer as low as possible.

We propose to consult in early 2014 on setting the target for the delivery of a minimum level of solid wall installation, across all elements of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), as either a carbon target or as a minimum number of properties to be treated. This will form part of a wider consultation on the future of the scheme.

DECC does not make projections for the number of solid wall insulation (SWI) measures installed by the insulation industry. However, we recently announced that in the first quarter of 2014 we will consult on a requirement for energy suppliers to deliver a minimum of 100,000 SWI measures (or a specific volume of CO₂ equivalent to that number of SWI installations) under the Energy Company Obligation between January 2013 and March 2017. Energy suppliers would have flexibility about how they deliver this target—there would not be annual sub targets.

The value of the benefit will vary between companies, but, on average, the package of measures announced on 2 December, will be worth around £50 to households. The Government, has encouraged energy suppliers to ensure that all customers benefit from the whole package of measures.

DECC officials have regular discussions with representatives of the insulation industry to inform development of Energy Company Obligation policy, to better understand how the scheme is being delivered on the ground and to discuss the potential impact of the proposed changes to the scheme.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the overall effect of any changes to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) are carbon neutral, and for this reason when the proposed changes to ECO were announced, we simultaneously introduced the significant package of new public funding to boost energy efficiency.

The announcement of 2 December included a preliminary analysis of the estimated carbon dioxide impact of the proposed changes to ECO and the package of new funding, available at

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/govt-action-to-help-hardworking-people-with-energy-bills

and following:

The targets for the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) are set in output terms, rather than financial terms. In terms of the elements of ECO directed at fuel poverty—Affordable Warmth (AW) and Carbon Saving Communities (CSCO—the output targets for the end of March 2015 will not change. The carbon target under CSCO will remain at 6.8MTC0₂ and the notional bill savings target for AW will stay at £4.2 billion. We expect this to translate into support for 230,000 low income households per year. Next year we will consult on setting new targets pro rata for the period 2015-17.

The average fuel poverty gap in 2011 was £438 (2011 prices).

It is not easy to isolate the impact of a given policy on levels of fuel poverty and future fuel poverty gap figures will reflect wider changes in energy prices and bills, household incomes and energy efficiency levels. However, the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) changes we will consult on next year could be expected, on their own, to lower the average fuel poverty gap since the support directed at the fuel poor will continue and typical energy bills will be lower than they would otherwise have been.

In the autumn statement, we announced new schemes worth £540 million over three years to incentivise energy efficiency for home-movers, landlords and public sector buildings. We are currently working on the details of the schemes. More details will be announced early in the new year.

Detailed information on spending from 2008-09 to 2012-13 on fuel poverty under Warm Front, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, the Community Energy Saving programme, the Warm Home Discount and the predecessor voluntary scheme has already been provided in response to written questions. For example, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) on 1 July 2013, Official Report, column 422W.

The maximum spending obligation in 2013-14 under the Warm Home Discount, as set out in regulations, is £300 million. Requirements on energy companies under the new energy companies obligation are set in output, rather than spending, terms. In the original ECO impact assessment, we estimated average annual spending directed at fuel poverty through Affordable Warmth and Carbon Saving Communities to be £540 million for the period to 2015.

On Wednesday 4 December, DECC published a number of Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) documents, including an update on the budget management of the Domestic RHI. In that document we state that, at the tariff levels in place when the scheme launches, we believe that the scheme could see an increase from current levels of renewable heat deployment to approximately 35,000 installations in 2014-15 and 57,000 installations in 2015-16. This is a significant increase on current levels of deployment, but it is important to note that this is the sort of scale of deployment that the budget can support rather than a specific target for deployment. The actual number of installations supported will depend significantly on the balance between technologies and the size of installations.

If tariff levels reduce as a result of deployment meeting a degression trigger (demand for the scheme was very high or technology costs were lower than we anticipated), we would be able to support an even larger number of installations.

The total cost of the domestic scheme is estimated to be £44.8 million in 2014-15 and £80.1 million the following year. This includes funding for payments to those who have already acted in line with the Government's announcements since July 2009, a metering and monitoring

scheme to help improve the performance of technologies, as well as payments for new installations to which the above numbers of installations refer.

Green Deal Advice Reports (GDARs), which result from a Green Deal assessment, can be accessed by any provider, so long as that provider has the permission of the improver (eg the homeowner). The Green Deal Code of Practice states that providers must be prepared to use an existing GDAR for the purpose of developing a quote, unless for example, material changes have been made to the property since the original assessment was carried out. We have written to providers to remind them of this provision.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) reorganised its group structure in October 2013. Therefore no data exists for those groups prior to that date.

The current Turnover rate for the DECC groups are set out as follows.

The turnover rate for DECC at 31 March in each of the years requested is set out as follows:

Phases 1 and 2 cover the period 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2014. Ofgem reported that, as of the end of September 2013, energy companies had collectively delivered 16.3% of their phase 1 and phase 2 obligations under the Carbon Saving Community Obligation within the Energy Company Obligation. This information is available on the Ofgem website at:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/energy-companies-obligation-eco-compliance-update-november-2013

In addition, companies had notified a large number of measures which had not yet been approved. Ofgem published details of individual obligated suppliers' progress against their phase 1 and phase 2 obligations under all the elements of the Energy Company Obligation on 8 November. This information is available on the Ofgem website:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/84352/ecocomplianceupdate-october2013quarterlyannexv1.pdf

Phases 1 and 2 cover the period 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2014. Ofgem reported that, as of the end of September 2013, energy companies had collectively delivered 3% of their phase 1 and phase 2 obligations under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Obligation within the Energy Company Obligation. This information is available on the Ofgem website at:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/energy-companies-obligation-eco-compliance-update-november-2013

In addition, companies had notified a large number of measures which had not yet been approved. Ofgem published details of individual obligated suppliers' progress against their phase 1 and phase 2 obligations under all the elements of the Energy Company Obligation on 8 November. This information is available on the Ofgem website at:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/84352/ecocomplianceupdate-october2013quarterlyannexv1.pdf

Phases 1 and 2 cover the period 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2014. Ofgem reported that, as of the end of September 2013, energy companies had collectively delivered 24.7% of their phase 1 and phase 2 obligations under the Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation within the Energy Company Obligation. This information is available on the Ofgem website at:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/energy-companies-obligation-eco-compliance-update-november-2013

In addition, companies had notified a large number of measures which had not yet been approved.

Ofgem published details of individual obligated suppliers' progress against their phase 1 and phase 2 obligations under all the elements of the Energy Company Obligation on 8 November, This information is available on the Ofgem website:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/84352/ecocomplianceupdate-october2013quarterlyannexv1.pdf

Departmental expenditure on marketing campaigns and communications material for the Green Deal programme from April 2011 to end July 2013 was £3.74 million (including VAT). Around 300,000 measures have been installed through energy efficiency schemes to end of September.

DECC have recently announced the intention to adopt the new Low Income High Costs (LIHC) indicator to measure fuel poverty in England, based on the recommendations from Professor Hills' independent review.

The number of households in fuel poverty in England is projected to remain at a similar level in 2012 before increasing marginally in 2013. The aggregate gap is projected to increase from £1 billion in 2011, to £1.2 billion in 2013. Details are provided in the following table:

DECC have recently announced the intention to adopt the new Low Income High Costs (LIHC) indicator to measure fuel poverty, based on the recommendations from Professor Hills' independent review. Under this new proposed measure, there were around 782,000 households from the private rented sector living in fuel poverty in 2011. This represents 21% of all private rented households.

The latest monthly statistical release showed that a provisional 244,882 measures were installed under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) to end of August 2013. Very few of these measures were installed before 2013 but Table 1 as follows provides a breakdown by installation date in 2012 and type of obligation.

The latest monthly statistical release can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-and-energy-company-obligation-eco-monthly-statistics-october-2013