Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his reply. We do not doubt that his heart is in the right place—and that piece of history rather confirms it. However, I am somewhat disappointed by some of the things he said. There were some mixed messages. As he may remember, the Companies Act was preceded by an agreement between the Government and business on what the nature of the reporting might be but the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, surprising business, knocked that into the long grass. During the passage of the Companies Act we steadily brought back bits of what had been originally agreed but which had been knocked sideways. That came up at just about every stage of that legislation in the Lords, and to some extent also in the Commons. I was involved in the sessions in the Lords. I hope that we can take this further. It is unfortunate that this issue has come up so late both tonight on Report and did so in Committee, and that we have not therefore been able to give proper consideration to it, because it is extremely important, as my noble friend Lord Teverson said. It is one of the weapons in our armoury in this regard, and many of the businesses that have to report on a mandatory basis would welcome it. Given the lateness of the hour, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 70 [Territorial scope of provisions relating to greenhouse gas emissions]: [Amendment No. 232 not moved.] Clause 76 [Meaning of "national authority"]: [Amendment No. 233 not moved.] Clause 79 [Index of defined expressions]: