To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the reduction in maximum grant levels under the domestic stream of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme on household demand for solar photovoltaic and micro-wind technologies; and if he will make a statement. (199375)

Since the introduction of a grant cap in May 2007 for household installations monthly applications, including for solar PV and micro-wind, have decreased relative to before May 2007. However, we have seen a more even spread across the various technologies. There are potentially a number of factors contributing to this lower uptake of household grants. However, we believe that the extension to the household stream of LCBP, relaxation of planning requirements and wider promotion of the programme should help to boost take-up.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate his Department has made of the number of micro-generation installations to be delivered by the domestic stream of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. (199377)

To date, we have funded 4,300 domestic installations through the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. We recently announced that the domestic stream will be extended to June 2010 or until the funds are exhausted whichever comes sooner. We also announced the relaxation of planning permission requirements, making it easier for homeowners to install microgeneration on their homes.

Should we continue allocating grants at the current rate of 200 per month, we would expect to see a further 2,800 completed installations by scheme closure. However, with the changes that we have made, we expect that uptake to increase.

We will continue to monitor uptake to the domestic stream going forward.