Climate Change Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 75: 75: Clause 12, page 7, line 10, leave out from ““than”” to end and insert ““12 months following the laying of the previous year’s report”” The noble Lord said: I had a specific purpose in tabling the amendment, but when I read how it was drafted, it did not seem to mean the same thing. I hope that the Committee will forgive me for that. I shall therefore explain to the Committee what I want the amendment to do. The report to which it relates is important, whatever its final content. From a psychological, management and every other perspective, for it to be issued in the March of the second year following that to which it relates is too late. It would be two calendar years later, even though it would be 15 months after the end of the year. The amendment would require the report to be issued and submitted within a calendar year of the end of the year for which it accounts; that is, not within 15 months, but 12 months. The period in the Bill is too long. We need to bring it down to within a year of the year in question. The amendment would achieve that, which would be important in terms of maintaining momentum and of the management of the process. If we get too out of date in terms of the numbers that we are looking at, it prevents reasonable management action being taken and loses momentum in terms of public interest and the currency of the report. I beg to move.