Climate Change Bill [HL]

I speak to Amendments Nos. 159 and 160, which are tabled in my name. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, has already set out very clear reasons for his amendments. I have just one question, as this is a probing amendment. Clause 28(4) says, "““The Secretary of State may by order extend that period””." Is there any limit to which that response can be extended, because many of us who have waited for Government responses to Select Committee reports and other such documents find that the Government’s timetable can be slightly elastic in certain cases? I say that because it will obviously have major impacts on policy if the response is to be shifted over a long period, especially if you are dealing with a five-year period. Does that eat into the next year’s budgetary period, or does it affect only the period in which the Government are responding? Does it have any effect on the budgetary provisions set out by the committee? The committee’s work will obviously be greatly affected not only by its report but by the Government’s response.