To ask the Minister for Social Development what assessment she has made of the impact of the increase in (i) fuel costs; and (ii) fuel duty on the departmental budget and the realisation of efficiency targets; and what action she has taken to mitigate against these increased costs.

Whilst the Department's fuel costs are regularly monitored, no formal assessment has been made to date of the impact of the increase in fuel costs and fuel duty on departmental budgets or efficiency targets. Staff are made aware – through the Energy Matters section on the local intranet – of the need to conserve energy in all our buildings.

My Department is also committed to delivering on 3 key sustainable development targets in relation to energy usage i.e. sourcing electricity requirements from renewable sources; reducing absolute carbon from fuel and electricity used in buildings; and increasing the energy efficiency of the buildings occupied in terms of fuel and electricity used per square metre of building floor area.

The most recent progress report against these targets indicates that the first 2 are being met, while the 3rd one is being actively pursued. The pursuit and achievement of good energy saving practices and the above targets, serves to mitigate against increased fuel costs, notwithstanding that increases would, in any case, have to be met from within existing budget baselines. In particular, the implementation of automatic electricity “power down” procedures this Autumn, is intended to help keep overall electricity usage down, thereby absorbing some of the increased costs anticipated.