To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to announce his decision on the future of (a) the Severn Tidal Barrier and (b) each other proposed renewable energy project under consideration by his Department. (284315)

The Government response to public consultation on Severn tidal power is published today. A decision on whether to support a Severn Estuary power scheme will be made after further assessment of the costs, benefits and impacts and following a second public consultation, likely to be during 2010.

The Government’s Renewable Energy Strategy, which contains a range of measures to meet the UK’s renewable energy target, will also be published shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the heat generated from woody biomass in each year since 2005; and on what data he bases such estimates. (286793)

Information on all forms of renewable energy used for heat generation is contained in table 7.6 of the annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics. The current edition, published in July 2008, contains information up to and including 2007; the data for 2005-07 are shown in the table. The next edition of the digest, which will contain 2008 data, is being published on 30 July 2009.

The data are based on information from the Forestry Commission, the Heating Equipment Testing and Approval Scheme (HETAS), the bio-energy capital grants scheme, and AEA, acting on behalf of DECC.