Climate Change Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 166: 166: Clause 28, page 15, line 21, leave out ““A report under this section”” and insert ““Each subsequent report under this section, other than one in the second year after the end of a budgetary period,”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, government Amendments Nos. 166, 168 and 170 extend the deadline by which the Committee on Climate Change must lay its annual report in the second year after the end of the budgetary period from 30 June to 15 July. It is a small change. Having considered the arguments made by noble Lords in Committee, we agree that there is a case for extending this deadline. At the end of the budget period, the Secretary of State has until 31 May in the second year following the end of the period to lay the Clause 14 report before Parliament. As drafted, Clause 28 would then give the Committee on Climate Change only until 30 June to lay its progress report before Parliament. The Government now accept that that period may be too short and we therefore believe that a short extension of two weeks will ensure that the Committee on Climate Change can take into account the contents of the Secretary of State’s final Clause 14 statement of emissions. We have opted for a short extension of only two weeks as we should remember that, by this time, there will already be a large amount of information available that the committee can use to make significant progress in preparing the report in advance of 31 May. It will have information on the UK’s emissions and net carbon account for each year of the budget period, based on the annual emissions statements to Parliament under Clause 12. The committee will already have made four annual progress reports of its own, which will have been laid before Parliament, and the Government will have responded to each of them. So the committee will already be well placed to start making its assessment of the way in which the budget for the period was or was not met and of the action taken during the period to reduce emissions. That is why we think that a short, two-week extension is sufficient. It will provide adequate time for the committee to make any final adjustments to its report to take account of the Government’s final statement. It will achieve this without delaying unnecessarily the committee’s report or allowing the report to be laid during the parliamentary Recess. Amendment No. 167 would extend the deadline for the committee to submit all its Clause 28 reports until 31 August, which seems excessive. For the years one to four of the budget period, the Government will have tabled the Clause 12 emissions statements by 31 March. The Bill as drafted will then give the committee three months to write its Clause 28 report. We are not sure why it would require a further two months’ extension to 31 August. We also note that this date falls in the parliamentary Recess, which could complicate matters. The only occasion on which we think an extension is justified is for the progress report at the end of a budget period under Clause 28(2). As I have explained, we think that two weeks are sufficient. Amendment No. 169 would remove the Secretary of State’s power to extend the period allowed to the committee for laying its annual progress report. The power in Clause 28(4) is included and the reporting dates in the Bill have been chosen to allow the committee to consider, before making its progress report, emissions data made public by convention and under international and European Union reporting requirements. This power would allow the Secretary of State to make appropriate adjustments to the date if the international reporting requirements were altered. If, for example, that information were to become available later in the year, it might make sense for the committee to be able to delay each report until it has had the opportunity to consider the information. The power cannot be used to prevent the committee from reporting earlier if it wished. If the Secretary of State wanted to delay the report but the committee did not want a delay, the committee would still be perfectly able to submit its report whenever it wanted. It simply leaves open the possibility of the committee delaying its report should it wish to do so. Reports must still be made annually. We believe that the flexibility to alter the dates by which the reports are required is an essential part of the Bill, so I hope that noble Lords will not press their amendments. I beg to move.