Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Colin Challen (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 1 December 2005 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Microgeneration

Question: This being the season of good will and festive cheer, as well as reviews, will my right hon. Friend review the amount of money put into the low carbon building initiative, which year on year is quite a bit less than what was put into the programmes that it replaces? If my right hon. Friend is looking for somewhere to get the money, may I suggest that he dips into his Department's nuclear fusion research money, which is considerably more than that being given to the low carbon buildings initiative?

Answer: I suppose that as it is 1 December we can officially say that it is the season of good will, but it is not the season of distorting our figures—[Interruption]—as every other season of the year. My hon. Friend is wrong about this. I understand how passionately he feels about the matter, particularly photovoltaics. On average, under the low carbon buildings programme we shall be spending £9.5 million a year compared with £9.2 million average yearly spend since 2000 under the previous project. We have not diluted the amount of money that we are making available, although the use of grants is not the total picture in terms of how we can encourage greater use of microgeneration.

Secondary information