To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost to the public purse was of holding the public meeting on his Department’s group on documents on nuclear justification at the Marriott Hotel, Marble Arch on 19 January 2010; whether his Department made provision for the reimbursement of participants for travel costs; what assessment his Department made of the comparative cost of holding that meeting at his Department; whether he has made an assessment of the merits of recovering the cost of the meeting from the Nuclear Industry Association; whether he has plans for any further such meeting; and what record of that meeting (a) was circulated to participants and (b) he plans to post on his Department’s website. (325667)

Further to my answers of 2 February 2010, Official Report, column 187W, and 5 February 2010, Official Report, column 617W; which covered most of the points in my hon. Friend’s question, the final cost of the public meeting held as part of the consultation on my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s proposed Regulatory Justification decisions on new nuclear power stations was £12,951. This included the cost of travel for some delegates. A Government venue was not chosen on this occasion as a hotel offered more flexible options for staging the event. The meeting was part of the consultation and it is therefore proper that the Government meet the cost. The consultation being over, we have no current plans for any further such meeting. A transcript of the meeting was circulated to delegates and placed on the Department’s website at:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/reg_just_cons/regjustcons.aspx