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Today
the Chancellor delivered his 2015 Spending Review and Autumn Statement to Parliament
- full details are available here.
Commenting
on the Spending Review and Autumn Statement, Secretary of State Amber Rudd
said:
"My
priority is to deliver secure, affordable, clean energy supplies that
hardworking families and businesses across the country can rely on, now and in
the future. As we transition to a low-carbon economy as cost effectively
as possible, finding new sources of energy that are cheap, reliable and clean
is essential, which is why we are boosting our spending on innovation and
backing the industries of the future."
"We will continue taking action to keep consumer bills down. We will also
double support for renewable heat and electricity over the next five years as
we invest in new infrastructure fit for the 21st century to ensure our
long-term energy security".
The main announcements for DECC, from the Autumn
Statement and the Spending Review, include:
Security
The government will provide over £11 billion for the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to continue its vital work cleaning up historic nuclear
sites. This includes making significant progress on the legacy ponds and silos
at Sellafield, some of the most hazardous facilities in the UK.
Long
term investment
The government’s doubling of investment in DECC’s
innovation programme will help position the UK as an international leader in
small modular nuclear reactors, and deliver commitments on seed funding for
promising new renewable energy technologies and smart grids.
The government will provide £295 million over 5
years to improve the energy efficiency of schools, hospitals and other public
sector buildings. Separately, over £300 million of funding for up to 200 heat
networks will generate enough heat to support the equivalent of over 400,000
homes and leverage up to £2 billion of private capital investment.
Efficiency
and Reform
The government will increase funding for the Renewable
Heat Incentive to £1.15 billion in 2021 to ensure that the UK continues to make
progress towards its climate goals while reforming the scheme to improve value
for money, delivering savings of almost £700 million by 2020-21.
Between 2016-17 and 2019-20 the government will
save over £1 billion by making efficiencies and savings in the NDA through; better
value contracts; top class commercial procurement; delaying non-safety-critical
projects; and cancelling a project that is no longer needed due to a
world-first breakthrough in nuclear decommissioning research.
DECC will
deliver £220 million of resource savings by 2019-20 through efficiencies from pooling
back office and corporate services and reducing the costs of contracts to
manage the country’s historic coal and nuclear liabilities.
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