Climate Change Bill [HL]

The Minister talks about duplication but has already admitted that there exists a body which is effectively doing the work that I would see the Committee on Climate Change doing. I cannot see the committee being happy about not being involved in evaluating these issues because they form the working material that it will be engaged with. This is the committee’s area of activity. So I was surprised by the Minister’s suggestion that the secretariat will be allowed to come along to meetings of the other body—I have forgotten the name he mentioned—that is currently producing these figures. Representatives will be allowed, as if by grace, into the inner workings of this body. I believe that we are drifting apart on this, not just because I am getting tired but because this is to some degree about territory. The general principle here is that this is about how much responsibility we will give to the Committee on Climate Change and how much responsibility the Executive, the Government and the Secretary of State will retain under their control. It has become clear over the course of the last few amendments that the Minister is reluctant to give ground in this area, whereas the substance of the contributions from Members of the Committee has been to acknowledge that, if it is to be effective, the committee will need to be trusted and given authority. I except from that the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, who is worried about giving powers to a non-elected body. However, this is such a technical matter and such a long-term issue where continuity will be important—Governments come and go, and Ministers certainly do so—that it is vital to ensure a full role for the Committee on Climate Change in all its aspects. The committee’s authority will be important to the Government because they will need that authority to take some of the difficult decisions they are going to face. If the Government take all responsibility for decisions and leave the committee in a sort of advisory offstage role, allowed out only when it suits, they will find it quite difficult to cope with the political consequences . It would be far better to have the committee in on the decision-making process and clearly recognised as the author of the statistics. These statistics will not be out of line with those required by the Kyoto Protocol because they will be the same vehicle by which all these matters will be measured by the Committee on Climate Change itself. But in the circumstances, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.