Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) (No. 2) Order 2006

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) (No. 2) Order 2006 [20th Report from the Joint Committee]. The noble Lord said: This order is a consolidating measure. Scottish Ministers have been exercising since 1999 certain functions under the Electricity Act 1989, including the granting of consents for electricity generating stations under Section 36, and Schedule 5 functions relating to water rights for hydro-electric generating stations in Scotland. The main purpose of this transfer of functions order is to extend the functions of Scottish Ministers under Section 36 to a defined area of the renewable energy zone beyond Scotland’s territorial waters. We are also devolving recent amendments to Section 36 and Schedule 5. The order first revokes the current devolution of Section 36 consents and then re-devolves them to Scottish Ministers in an amended and extended form. The renewable energy zone around the UK, beyond territorial waters, was created by the Energy Act 2004. The effect of extending the functions of Scottish Ministers to part of the renewable energy zone will be to consolidate within the Scottish Executive responsibility for Section 36 consents for generating stations on the Scottish mainland and offshore. The Scottish Executive will act as a single point of contact on all consent cases for generating stations which are related to Scotland. The Energy Act also amended Section 36 and its companion Schedule 8 in a couple of ways. First, the Act confirmed that a Section 36 consent was required for generating stations in the territorial waters around Great Britain. Secondly, the Act confirms that local planning authorities are not able to force a public inquiry to be held where they object to a Section 36 application for a generating station which is not within their jurisdiction, such as an offshore wind farm. As for Section 36 and Schedule 5 and the water rights for generating stations in Scotland, the final matter that the order deals with is the transfer of amended functions in relation to those rights. Schedule 5 to the Electricity Act confers the function on the Secretary of State of authorising by order the abstraction and diversion of water from a watercourse or loch for use in a hydro-electric generating station. These functions were transferred to Scottish Ministers in 1999 at the same time as Section 36 consent functions were executively devolved. Since then the Water Framework Directive, which established a framework for European Community action in water policy, has been implemented in Scotland by the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003. The directive requires member states to put in place systems for protecting and improving the status of all of their natural water resources. Regulations made under that Act mean that from 1 April the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will be responsible for authorising the abstraction of water by a range of industries, including operators of hydro-electric generating stations, in line with the policy priorities which have been established by Scottish Ministers. In the interests of avoiding duplication and potentially a conflict of regulatory controls, it is necessary to amend Section 36 of and Schedule 5 to the Electricity Act as they apply in Scotland to fit in with these new arrangements. As only this House and the other place have powers to amend the Electricity Act, these amendments are being made by an order under Section 104 of the Scotland Act. The Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2006 will be debated by noble Lords next week. The order before us today simply devolves these amended functions to Scottish Ministers. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) (No. 2) Order 2006 [20th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord McKenzie of Luton.)