Planning Bill

I shall most certainly try to do that, but I do not think that I can improve hugely on my noble friend’s explanation, which was excellent. I did not expect the clause to command so much contention. It is completely benign. There is nothing sinister about it whatever, but the description offered by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, was the exactly the opposite of what we intend to do. He is right about the NPS being a new way of doing things—it is necessarily so—but he did not understand exactly what the clause seeks to achieve. I am happy to try to make that clear, because I would hate to think that there was ambiguity about this. In brief, Clause 12 allows for a statement of policy that is issued before the commencement date to be designated as a national policy statement for the purpose of the Bill. The clause also allows the Secretary of State to take consultation and scrutiny carried out before the commencement day into account in deciding if the tests set out in Clauses 7 and 9 have been met. It also allows Ministers to treat an appraisal of sustainability that has been carried out before the commencement day as meeting the requirements of Clause 5(3). I have listened very closely to what Members of the Committee have said on the clause and the amendments about the timing. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, started by saying that he wanted to be sure that there was no temptation to avoid the processes which the Bill requires in terms of the high standards of consultation, sustainability and so on. As I address those amendments, I shall seek to ensure that he has that assurance. I will also address the amendments in the group tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. I understand the fears expressed by Members of the Committee that somehow here we have an intention to bring existing statements of policy being grandfathered into the new regime and bypassing the high standards that the Bill sets out for NPSs, which are key to the new regime. They must be robust, legitimate and credible. I should like to make it clear that the Bill provides clear safeguards which will ensure that all NPSs are subject to the tests set out in the Bill. I hope that that will satisfy the Committee that the clause is very important. The production of national policy statements where these do not already exist has got to be a thorough process, but, in all logic, it cannot be a wholly new policy process. Government policies on strategic infrastructure have developed and will develop over time at a different pace in different areas. In some cases, we will need to build on a range of work to develop policy which could contribute to a national policy statement, or a policy statement may have been issued, which appears to be a potential national policy statement, before the commencement date of this Bill. We are not talking about designating something that was written a long time ago and is out of date. The answer to the first question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, coming from the Local Government Association, is that we certainly are not talking about designating an old policy statement and simply treating it as if it were new or did not have to satisfy any tests. I think that that was the assumption that the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, was making; namely, that somehow we would simply take previous White Papers or whatever and designate them as if they had gone through the process. That cannot happen. We are talking about ensuring that Ministers can take on board all the good work, the analysis, the evidence and the judgments that have gone into making current policy sound. It would not make sense to throw this away. We cannot start from scratch when we are looking at the balance of our energy needs, the distribution of our railway networks or where we need water in relation to building housing. We have a great deal of intelligence and evidence to suggest how we should go forward. But the national policy statements, for the first time, set out a clear direction of travel as to why we need infrastructure and, in some cases, where we need it. That is what is new. It is the processes of consultation, which are spelled out in great detail. Each state of the process from national policy statements through to the decision and sustainability will be the essential test of whether this national policy statement will stand up to public and parliamentary scrutiny. It is not sensible to throw that work away. We cannot start from scratch. It would be completely ridiculous to do that. Giving the Secretary of State this power to designate pre-existing statements of policy will enable us to take account of earlier work. At the same time, we recognise that the legal significance of national policy statements as the framework for IPC decisions in the proposed system means that it is vital that they all meet the requirements for national policy statements. It is not a question of dusting off anything. Accordingly, the obligation to carry out an appraisal of the sustainability of the policy set out in a national policy statement in Clause 5(3)) continues to apply in relation to pre-existing statements that are designated under this clause. Ministers would also have to ensure that the standards for consultation and scrutiny set out in Clauses 7 and 9 had been met. I can confirm that the clause allows Ministers to take into account consultation carried out before the commencement of the Bill, and indeed in response to a question put by the noble Baroness, the consultation on, for example, the air transport White Paper was very thorough. However, we have to apply different tests for national policy statements. As we come to debate consultation later, we will talk about the ways in which the new updated code for consultation might affect it. We made clear during debates in the other place that there is no question of bypassing the quality controls set out in the Bill for new statements of policy. I am happy to put that on the record again today. Before a pre-existing policy statement is designated as an NPS, Ministers will ensure that the standards for consultation, appraisal of sustainability, which we debated last week, and parliamentary scrutiny, which we are to debate in a while, have been met. In response to the noble Earl, designating a policy statement will mean going through the parliamentary scrutiny process. If NPSs are to be effective, whether they are based on new or existing policy, they must be robust and authoritative. Therefore I should say to the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, that there is no incentive for us to try to cut corners. We need to demonstrate that we have done everything we intend in this Bill to make policy statements sound in their policy and credible in terms of public perception and understanding. This part of the Bill does not set out in detail how consultation should be undertaken because NPSs will vary greatly and therefore the consultation will also be different. However, this will not allow the standards for good consultation to be bypassed. We have made it clear that consultation will be thorough and effective, and will be in accordance with the recently updated code of practice on consultation. There may be difficult issues to address and tough choices to make in relation to NPSs, but our task is to expose these through consultation and inform the public so that we take them with us. Indeed, that was the exact phrase used the other day by some of the experts who came to advise us on the Bill. We want a serious national debate on serious national issues. The noble Lord raised the question of the aviation White Paper. Perhaps I may reply to some of his questions in this context because it is a good example. As I have said, before a pre-existing policy statement was designated as an NPS, Ministers would have to ensure that the standards for consultation and appraisal of sustainability set out in the Bill had been met. We are already committed to produce a further progress report on the air transport White Paper between 2009 and 2011, which will provide a good opportunity to designate the ATWP in conjunction with that report. But let me reassure the noble Lord that there can be no suggestion that the ATWP will be designated as an NPS wholesale without undergoing the process set out in the Bill. The Government have stated their intention to produce an NPS for airports that will integrate the air transport White Paper in a way which meets the policy and the statutory requirements set out in the Bill. It will therefore be subject to an appraisal of sustainability, consultation and parliamentary scrutiny. We will be scrupulous in ensuring that it meets the standards set in the Bill, and if necessary further work in those areas will be carried out as part of the progress report. Further, Parliament will obviously scrutinise what Ministers have done before any NPS, including the aviation NPS, is designated, and will doubtless make sure that if there are any problems, Ministers would take them into account before final designation. If, ultimately, people still felt that the Government had not met the standards in the Bill, we would be liable to challenge in the courts. Amendment No. 93 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, and the noble Earl, Lord Cathcart, would alter Clause 12 to require that where a Secretary of State wished to designate a pre-existing policy statement as a national policy statement an assessment would be carried out in accordance with the SEA directive We discussed that issue briefly last week and I would not wish to detain the Committee unnecessarily by repeating those arguments here. We will ensure that pre-existing statements of policy will have to meet the same standards for appraisal of sustainability as new statements of policy before they can be designated. As the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, said, Amendment No. 91 would prevent Ministers from designating policy in a national policy statement by reference. The amendment would require instead that all policies be incorporated into the text of the NPS and that if there was a reference it would have to be clear—not elliptical, not sloppy and not ambiguous. I take her point. Where Ministers designate policy by reference, they will do so clearly. It is necessary that we do so because, if national policy statements are to be effective, they will have to be comprehensive in order to demonstrate that they have taken on board the range of relevant policies. To ensure that that is possible across the suite of NPSs, we have to have flexibility to make external references without incorporating every detail—otherwise we would end up with an NPS of considerable size. We intend that statements will be taken into account, but we have to do it by reference. I take the stricture about the necessity for clarity—this is already being scrupulously addressed—and for the business of cross-reference to be clear. I take the point that the noble Baroness is making, but incorporation will not solve the problem. However, I have listened to what she has said. This has been an important debate. I hope that I have reassured noble Lords that the clause is necessary as a statement of what we have to do in order to be sensible and consistent with policy work that has gone on previously and to ensure that we can make best use of our resources, our intelligence and our forecasting. I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw his amendment.