Energy Bill

My Lords, this is the first Bill that I have been involved with, so please be patient with me, if you would be so kind. It is good for this House that the Energy Bill is starting here, and I thank all noble Lords for their well thought out and helpful amendments. We may, of course, resist some of them, but they will be given respectful consideration and full discussion. I would also like to thank the opposition Benches for their constructive approach to this through the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon. I would particularly like to thank my officials, who have worked through the weekend and have had to respond to amendments tabled as recently as this morning. So they have put in a tremendous amount of hard work. I would also like to thank my unpaid friend Lady Northover, who joins me not as a rich person who can afford things—as the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, thinks—but as someone who believes in public service. Throughout our consideration of this Bill my door is always open, as is my limited mind, and should you wish at any time during this Committee to discuss any issues, I would be delighted to do so. So thank you in advance, all of you, for your support. I would also like to thank the noble Lords and the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, for bringing forward these amendments which seek to provide clarity about the purposes of this part of the Bill, to ensure that those delivering the Green Deal have regard to those purposes, and to require annual reports on progress. Amendment 1 seeks to put in statute the purposes of the Green Deal and to require relevant persons to have regard to these purposes in fulfilment of their functions. The Green Deal is indeed central to the carbon reduction target contained in the Climate Change Act and to the elimination of fuel poverty. I welcome the opportunity provided by this proposed amendment to provide clarity on the purposes of the policy. There are, however, difficulties with this proposed clause as an operational clause, many of which my noble Friend Lord Dixon-Smith has alluded to. The Green Deal is about establishing a commercial framework in which businesses can take the lead in delivering a new type of finance package designed to address climate change and fuel poverty. However, most of the regulatory functions which will be performed by specific bodies under this Bill are for consumer protection. For example, those persons running accreditation schemes ought to be focused on setting and enforcing standards to protect customers, not having to have regard to a trade-off between high-level policy aims such as carbon reduction and operational issues such as enforcing standards. We should resist an overarching purpose because we do not want to open an opportunity to challenge inappropriate commercial practices on the basis that the end justifies the means if the overarching purpose is achieved. We are also concerned that this amendment might cover all parties to the Green Deal—including installers, assessors and Green Deal providers—and, if so, places obligations most fitted to government onto commercial agents. For example, I do not consider it appropriate to ask an insulation installer to have regard to the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change. Furthermore, Green Deal participants will quite legitimately hold commercial objectives that are not reflected in subsection (1) of the proposed new clause— ie, business motives but which indirectly contribute to public policy aims. By defining the purposes in this way, we risk creating unnecessary complications that could have unintended effects. I hope the noble Baroness will therefore agree on this basis to withdraw her amendment, while taking comfort in the fact that we are in complete agreement on the relevance of the Bill to carbon targets and fuel poverty. The key principles behind Amendments 1A, 1B and 1C are also ones where I support wholeheartedly the sentiment. There is no question but that we would want to explain how our energy efficiency policies will deliver our carbon saving and fuel poverty goals. However, the aims of these amendments are already provided for by existing legislation. Later this year we will publish a carbon plan to set out, department by department, the policies and deadlines that will ensure real action on climate change. Our energy efficiency policies, not least the Green Deal, will be a key element of this plan. Also, as required by Section 2(1) of the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000, the Government have in place a strategy for delivering their fuel poverty targets. The Government are obliged to report each year on progress towards our carbon and fuel poverty targets, and, as my noble friend Lord Dixon-Smith referenced, our progress against these objectives is scrutinised by independent bodies, namely the Committee on Climate Change and the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group. In the light of this, I believe that the aims of this amendment are already provided for through existing arrangements, and I am not keen to unnecessarily multiply statutory duties to create plans and report progress. I therefore invite the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment.