My Lords, I thank the Minister for his detailed explanation, which I found extremely helpful. I was struggling with the copyright changes and it is helpful to understand why they were brought forward.
I have a few comments and only a couple of questions. My understanding is that the order is purely consequential; there does not appear to be any new policy development coming through. However, what impact will it have, if any, on the development of offshore wind facilities in Scotland? Will it have a substantial impact on it?
In article 4 of the order, subsection (4) of proposed new Section 36D of the Electricity Act 1989 states:
“An application under this section must be made within the period of 6 weeks beginning with the date on which the decision to which the application relates is taken”.
Is six weeks the normal period of time, or was it chosen as the most reasonable period of time to allow for an application made under that section?
Again in article 4 of the order, subsection (2)(b) of proposed new Section 36D states, as one of the conditions that has to be met for a court to grant permission for an application to succeed, the court would have to be satisfied that,
“the application has a real prospect of success”.
That also appears as one of the conditions in proposed new paragraph 5C(2)(b) of Schedule 8 to that Act on page 4. Is it normal legislative language that the court should grant permission only if there is a real prospect of success? I am not sure whether I have seen that language; I have seen “reasonable” but I am not sure that I have seen “real”.
Could the Minister also clarify what the language in proposed new paragraph 5C(2)(a) means. It states that the court must be satisfied that,
“the applicant can demonstrate a sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application” .
I am unclear exactly what that means.
From what I have seen I think we can support the order. However, those points of clarification would be helpful.