Clause 15 - Monitoring information: registers
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm

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

I want to repeat a point that was made earlier. It also relates to clauses 14 and 16, but I did not want to delay the Committee more than necessary, nor to rush through these brief and fairly uncontroversial clauses.

With regard to information and its publication in the registers, and particularly where public access is concerned, it is important that the form is constant. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Bedfordshire used the term ''common'', but common is not something that I would ever aspire to be, and so let us say that the registers should be of a constant or uniform nature, and that they should also be explicable, comprehensible and clear. That is not a minor point, because, when dealing with such matters, we must be mindful of our concerns that Government and local government information is not always like that.

If we are to enforce the legislation in a way that encourages scrutiny, not simply by the bodies designed for that purpose, but by the wider public, as referred to earlier in our proceedings, we need to ensure that the information is readily available, easily compared and comprehensible. That point applies to clauses 14 and 15 and, perhaps particularly, to clause 16. However, I make the point at this juncture, so that it may be applied across the three clauses.

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

I hope that I can give the hon. Gentleman a full assurance on that matter. We must rid ourselves of the perplexing descriptions of the allocating authority and the monitoring authority, and agree that what we are discussing is the regulations that the Secretary of State will issue to the Environment Agency on how the information will be made available to the public. I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman that whether the word used is ''common'' or ''constant'', the information should be produced in a standardised way; it should not vary unreasonably across the country, and it should certainly be comprehensible. That covers the points that we have already mentioned.

I am glad to reassure the hon. Gentleman that we agree on the importance of the public being, as far as is possible, participants in the process and on the need for people to be aware of what is happening in their area. Indeed, some of the more informed or interested people, who are sometimes members of non-governmental organisations, should be able to ask questions based on the information and thereby hold the relevant local bodies to account. I am pleased to reassure the hon. Gentleman that, to enable that to

happen, we intend to ensure that the registers are common—or constant—and comprehensible.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 15 ordered to stand part of the Bill.