Climate Change Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 183PB: 183PB: Schedule 5, page 57, leave out line 4 The noble Earl said: The three amendments in this group are also probing amendments. I shall speak first to Amendments Nos. 183PB and RA. If charges for the provision of receptacles for holding residual domestic waste and for collecting that waste are higher than the related costs, the population affected will regard it as another form of council tax. Should such charges not meet the costs, the population will see that some members of society are being subsidised while others are not. There is already a debate about whether householders should pay any extra for providing their rubbish ready-sorted for the council. The imposition of a charge greater than the cost of the provision will not add general support to the introduction of these schemes even if there is a counter-council tax rebate. Under sub-paragraph 4, which would be deleted by Amendment No. 183QA, it appears that an authority would be allowed to charge for providing a rubbish bin under the Environmental Protection Act, and to charge under the aegis of a waste reduction scheme. Will the Minister please explain the purpose of that, or have I misunderstood? Will he further tell us whether the sum will be levied on a one-off basis or whether the intention is that the authority will in effect rent the receptacles to householders through a repeated charge? I beg to move.