To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps have been taken by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies to improve the thermal efficiency of their buildings in the last 12 months. (266749)

The Department is committed to the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets which include a requirement to reduce absolute carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency per m² and a mandated action to apply the building research establishments environmental assessment method (BREEAM) to all new build and major refurbishment projects.

In the last 12 months a range of activities have been undertaken across the estate as part of refurbishment projects which will improve thermal efficiency of buildings, including installation of double glazing at an Identity and Passport Service office in Liverpool and upgrading of thermostatic controls to improve efficiency in certain buildings on the UK Border Agency (UKBA) estate in Croydon. In addition, our newest office building, Vulcan house, a UKBA property was Sheffield’s first BREEAM excellent rated building. It has a range of measures integrated into the design and construction to optimise thermal efficiency including setting the orientation to mitigate the effects of solar gain, building fabric insulation and a thermally efficient envelope including a vegetation roof that acts as a thermal barrier in both winter and summer. We will continue to employ these innovative and effective design methods to maximise thermal efficiency in future construction projects.

The Department has recently signed up to the Carbon Trust Management Programme which will assist us in identifying opportunities to further improve efficiency on our existing estate.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent progress her Department has made towards the target of increasing its energy efficiency per square metre of its Estate by 15 per cent. by 2010, relative to 1999-2000 levels; and if she will make a statement. (266889)

The Department is committed to the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets which include a requirement to improve energy efficiency per m² by 15 per cent. by 2010, and then 30 per cent. by 2020, based on 1999-2000 levels. Energy efficiency performance in 2007-08, the latest year for which data are available, compared to 1999-2000 shows that we are 13 per cent. less efficient than in the baseline year. These figures are given in the annual Sustainable Development in Government Assessment 2008 published by the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) in December 2008.

Our estate structure and size significantly altered as a result of Machinery of Government changes in the last reporting period, following the transfer of the National Offender Management Service, incorporating the probation and prisons estates, to the Ministry of Justice in May 2007.

We will be applying to re-baseline our data for the next reporting period to reflect these estate changes and some data improvements. This will assist us to report Home Office energy efficiency per square metre for our buildings (excluding those with shared occupancy), permit fairer comparisons to the baseline year and identify what level of activity may be required to meet the 2010 target. The Department has recently signed up to the Carbon Trust Management Programme which will assist us in identifying opportunities to further improve efficiency.