Sustainable Energy Bill
8:55 am
Mr Brian White (North East Milton Keynes, Labour)
I beg to move,
That the Order of the Committee [11 June] be amended by the substitution of ''at a date and time to be fixed by the Chairman'' for ''Thursday 19 June at 2.30 pm''.
I welcome the Minister for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services to the Committee. Having worked with him on information technology and e-commerce issues, I know how hard working he is. I am sure that he will take in his usual stride the addition of energy to his portfolio.
I want to put on record my thanks to the previous Minister for Energy and Construction for his work on the Bill in the last two or three months. In my discussions with him, he was always helpful and tried to find a way forward.
Many members of the Committee will want to know why we are not in a position to make progress this morning. Having moved to adjourn debate last week, I had hoped that we would be tabling amendments that would allow us to make progress today. We have agreement on most of the amendments to be tabled, but there are one or two cases where the wording, particularly in the definition of terms such as combined heat and power, needs to be tweaked. Hopefully, I will be tabling those amendments tomorrow.
Lawyers at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs say that there is a constitutional problem with the wording of an amendment to clause 2. I do not believe that there is a problem, and I am prepared to suggest alternative wording. However, DEFRA lawyers have identified a problem, and another day or so of discussion about that may lead to a resolution. That is why I want to amend the sittings motion.