Finance Bill

This has been an interesting debate and it has formed itself around an observation by the hon. Member for Nottingham, South (Alan Simpson). He argued that what one does not report on, one is less likely to be held accountable for. What one is not held accountable for, one is not likely to have much of an incentive to improve. If the Treasury were to report once a year on the effectiveness of its microgeneration strategy, it would set out clearly how successful it expects the strategy to be; it would raise expectations and standards; the Treasury Committee would take great interest in it; and it would enable the Government to be held to account for what they are doing under these two clauses. The main amendments that we propose, amendments Nos. 34 and 36 are simple. They ask the Government to give an assessment not of their wider strategy, but simply of how successful they expect the clauses to be—