Finance Bill

Absolutely. Some collectivism is still alive and well on the Labour Benches, too. I support the proposals for annual reporting on microgeneration. If we are agreed on a policy of support for the idea of microgeneration, especially photovoltaic cells on the roofs of houses, it is obvious that we should consider it every year to see how successful or otherwise it has been and if need be change policy to encourage it further. A large number of people want to put photovoltaic cells on the roofs of their houses so that they can generate some or all of their electricity, with any surplus going into the grid. However, the costs are impossible, partly because, as my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South pointed out, the grant system has ended and been subsumed into the carbon-neutral homes scheme. Secondly, because there are so few places in the country where such schemes operate the cost of the cells is enormous. That need not be so. We simply need to provide a reasonable grant system to encourage people to produce such energy, and reasonable tax incentives. In addition, where grants are awarded for improvements to any public or private buildings a condition should be imposed, such as the standards that apply to insulation and windows, that there should be a degree of microgeneration through photovoltaic and water-heating cells. That seems eminently sensible. As my hon. Friend pointed out, if we imposed such rules on new properties it would be helpful. We hope that there will be a big increase in the development of council and social housing, which would be a good opportunity to experiment and to encourage the use of more photovoltaic cells. However, the real issue relates to improvements to existing properties; for example, when people replace roofs or undertake major regeneration there would be a good opportunity to install microgeneration systems. The Treasury probably agrees with almost everything that has been said on both sides of the debate, so why cannot the Government accept the amendments? They have been proposed previously and the arguments have been well rehearsed. The argument for considering the success of the provisions is blindingly obvious. If we do not want to go down the road of developing more power stations, the answer lies in our existing buildings, where we can do something towards conserving energy—we have already gone a long way in that direction—as well as generating electricity. Towns in Germany, Austria and elsewhere have taken huge steps in that direction and have thus become centres of excellence for the development of microgeneration technology. Why cannot we do the same? Why are we holding ourselves back when we so readily understand and welcome the arguments?