Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced the 2009 Pre-Budget Report.

The points below are those deemed most relevant to the Partnership:

The Pre-Budget Report announces £400 million over the next two years (including funding reprioritised from other non-environmental programmes) to support green growth and the development of low-carbon technologies, building on the £1.4 billion package announced at Budget 2009. This will be part-funded through a £150 million increase to the Strategic Investment Fund for low-carbon projects.

The announced £400m will go towards:

• £50 million to fund the greener boiler incentive to encourage households to upgrade to more efficient heating systems. The Pre-Budget Report announces a £400 incentive to help up to 125,000 households upgrade their boiler, available to those who buy a new boiler or renewable heat unit to replace a working G-rated boiler. The Government will work with industry to launch the scheme at the earliest opportunity in 2010
   
• £150 million for Warm Front, which will help an additional 75,000 of the most vulnerable households in 2010-11. The Warm Front programme provides heating systems and insulation to vulnerable households, and has helped over two million since its launch in 2000
   
• £40 million support for low-carbon technologies, including additional support for small scale and community level low-carbon generation (building on the support made available to these sectors at Budget 2009)
   
• Feed-in tariffs, worth on average £900 in 2010 for households, will provide a financial incentive to install renewable technologies, allowing homes to generate around half of their own electricity. The Pre-Budget Report confirms that households who use renewable technology to generate electricity mainly for their own use will not be subject to income tax on feed-in tariffs. This will save households paying the basic rate of tax £180 in 2010. If necessary, legislation to ensure this treatment will be introduced with effect from 1 April 2010
   
• £50 million to invest in the development of the UK offshore wind industry, including funding for new manufacturing and testing facilities
   
• Establishing Infrastructure UK to leverage further investment in low-carbon projects including by: investing ¿100 million in a European Investment Bank-led fund to deploy up to ¿1.5 billion of equity and ¿5 billion of debt in low-carbon infrastructure; and considering the case for a low-carbon investment institution;
   

Other measures announced include:

• An increase in the amount of help provided by energy companies from £150 million currently to £300 million a year by 2013-14. These resources could provide discounts for an additional one million households. The Government is bringing forward new legislation to mandate the provision of this support from the end of the current voluntary agreement in March 2011.
   
• Doubling to four the UK¿s commitment to fund carbon capture and storage demonstration projects via contributions from electricity suppliers
   
• Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) holiday was announced on 2 September 2008 for all houses costing up to £175,000. The stimulus offered by the SDLT holiday relies on it being temporary, so the holiday will end as planned on 31st December 2009.
   

Most details can be found in Chapter 7: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr09_chapter7.pdf

For all Pre-Budget 2009 details visit: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/prebud_pbr09_repindex.htm