To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what research his Department has carried out into mapping the potential for heat capture in the UK. (175421)

In the Energy White Paper we said that we would conduct further work into the policy options available to reduce the carbon impact of heat including the capture and use of surplus heat. This work is being led by the Office of Climate Change and officials from my Department along with other Departments.

As announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on the 19 November, a call for evidence on heat will be published in January 2008.

The OCC's Heat Project aims to improve the understanding of how heat can be cost-effectively decarbonised, including how heat can be supplied from renewable sources. This work is being taken forward under the four workstreams:

(i) Carbon Markets;

(ii) Renewable Heat;

(iii) Community Heating; and

(iv) Large Scale Heat.

BERR and other Government Departments have been working closely with the Office of Climate Change (OCC), providing input to their heat strategy.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister recently announced that the call for evidence would be jointly published in January 2008 by BERR, DEFRA and CLG.