Clause 2 - Annual reports under section 1 of the Sustainable Energy Act 2003
Energy Bill [Lords]
8:55 am
Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to make clear that that is not what I intend to do. We already have a mechanism, through the Sustainable Energy Act 2003, which allows us to set those objectives—[Interruption.] I see from his mirth that he knows that. The figures have been set. I hope to ensure that, through the discussions that my noble Friend and I have with representatives of the industry before Report, we have the adequate dialogue with industry that we have not had until now.
We are already required to publish an annual report on progress made towards the energy White Paper's objective; that was another benefit from the Sustainable Energy Act, for which my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, North-East was responsible last year. To achieve our aims we will need wide participation from large numbers of interested parties. We have a vested interest in ensuring that our plans are open to public scrutiny, because that will improve them.
New clause 7 retains the principle behind clauses 2 and 3 in a way that amends the general reporting requirement in the Sustainable Energy Act, so that the relationship between the new and existing duties is clear. The proposal will require information to be provided on exactly the same list of low-carbon energy sources currently set out in clause 2. There was
discussion last week about the significance of the order in which the items occurred in that list. All we have done, to be helpful, is to reproduce the order in which they appear in clause 2.