I very much take that point on board. Much of where we have reached has come from talking to industry and stakeholders, so they are part of the journey towards making these recommendations.
So, point taken, but some of these things are incredibly complicated. However one tries to simplify them, they will still have a degree of complexity about them.
The noble Baroness asked why budget management was necessary. There is a degree of uncertainty about how the market will respond over time, so it is right to be prepared for unexpected changes in the uptake that may arise. The noble Baroness also raised the point that budgets are not flexible, and spending less than the allocated budget in one year does not permit that underspend to be transferred to future years. It is about balancing what we need to do—which is in line with what the Treasury expects us to do—with ensuring that, as we hope, the uptake will not lead to as big an underspend as in the past, given that we are putting in place these mechanisms to encourage better uptake.
The noble Baroness asked what will happen after 2015. The Government’s policy on this was published in February in response to the July consultation and was cleared across all government departments. It will remain open to new applicants until 2020. The spending review commencing in June will provide a chance to set the scheme’s budget beyond 2014-15. The noble Baroness asked about booking tariffs and guarantees and referred to the EPA. We do not propose to bring forward the EPA at this time, but recognise that there are arguments for introducing measures to improve certainty, even though these can be difficult to evidence. We intend to monitor the introduction of degression and other planned improvements to the scheme. We will continue to work with industry and stakeholders to improve our evidence base, then see what other options may be available to us.
The noble Baroness asked about biomass. It is true that biomass accounts for the majority of the applications and accreditations on this scheme. However, we want to see more deployment across a fuller range of technologies supported by the scheme. This is why we continually review the scope, so that—as I said before—we do not exclude some of the technologies that have longer lead-in times or are still at early development stages.
I must respond to two more questions. The noble Baroness asked why the mechanism was necessary. It has been supported by 77% of the respondents we spoke to as being the most appropriate mechanism. As I said, they are on side with us. I completely understand the complexity of it, but we need to be able to provide them with clarity and they are supportive, so I think we are in the right space. Needless to say, that does not mean there is no room for improvement.
The noble Baroness also asked why it is necessary to separate the tariffs. I touched on that. There are different technologies and different tariffs. That is important and it is to ensure that one technology does not have an undue advantage over other technologies.
The noble Baroness rightly asked questions about the complexity of the scheme; we do not underestimate that. However, I hope that the regulations debated today will ensure that RHI continues to drive forward renewable heat deployment, which is what we all want, and is the most cost-effective way of doing so for the taxpayer. I have taken on board many of the points
made by the noble Baroness; I shall read Hansard carefully to see whether there are any that I have missed. None the less, I hope that I have her support in commending the regulations to the Committee.