Mr Michael Meacher (Minister of State (the Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Oldham West & Royton, Labour)

On a point of order, Mr. Griffiths. May I make a brief statement? Last week, hon. Members voiced some disquiet about the availability of a regulatory impact assessment for the Bill. My Department's officials and I are concerned about that. I need hardly say that the Department has nothing to hide, and that it has been pro-active in complying with the spirit and letter of regulatory legislation.

I confirm that the first RIA has been available on the Department's website since 15 November 2002, when the Bill was introduced in another place. I confirm also that the updated RIA was put on the website on 3 April, the day of the Committee's first sitting. To reach that website, one has to type ''waste and emissions trading bill'' into the search field on the home page of the website or in the indicated field on the search page. In addition, the first edition of the RIA has been in the Libraries of both Houses since 15 November, and the updated RIA has been available in both Libraries since Friday 28 March. I hope that that meets the concerns that were expressed about the availability of the RIA in its original and updated forms.

Mr John Hayes (South Holland & The Deepings, Conservative)

Further to that point of order, Mr. Griffiths. First, I thank the Minister for his typical courtesy in drawing those matters to the attention of the Committee. It would be helpful if that sort of information could be included in the explanatory notes. Before raising the matter this morning, I checked the availability of the regulatory impact assessment with the Clerk of the Committee—he will no doubt confirm it—and received the assurance that it was not available. However, there was some uncertainty and confusion—for the sake of brevity I put it no more strongly than that. I am grateful for the Minister's courtesy, but this matter could provide a useful lesson.

Secondly, Mr. Griffiths, I ask whether the blinds can be lowered as I am suffering considerable discomfort because of the bright sunlight.

Mr Win Griffiths (Bridgend, Labour)

I am sure that that can be arranged.Clause 7 Trading and other transfer of landfill allowances