Climate Change Bill [HL]

I rise to support the amendment in the name of my noble friends and the noble Baroness, Lady Young of Old Scone. If public bodies do not have a duty in this area they will be disabled in taking the sort of action they need to take. I know from my years of experience in local government that local government also should have such a duty. I have not previously advocated laying too many local duties on local government, as I would rather that it was given powers and choice. Here, however, we are talking about short-term action that needs to happen quickly. If the Bill does not place this duty on all public bodies then we will be saying that they have first to address their other duties. They will be assessed on those other duties, because that is how the assessment schemes work; they will be assessed as excellent or failing on the basis of whether they are performing those duties. By resisting such a duty in the Bill, the Government are saying that this is not such a priority. I mention local authorities because that is what I know, but I am sure that the point applies also to other public bodies. In light of how local authorities plan and how they will address adaptation, the absence of such a duty will undermine their ability to pick up this important issue and focus on it so that they can change how they work and plan over the next five years. I mean ““planning”” in its widest sense because that is what adaptation means. I do not think the Minister would suggest a more relaxed timeframe of 10, 15 or 20 years. The work needs to start now. Public bodies need to be given this duty to enable them to reprioritise some of their thinking and to re-address the issues of how they work. It will be power to their elbow.