Clause 8 - Supplemental provisions of designating directions
Energy Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr Norman Baker (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
We have established that the NDA can take responsibility for the liabilities that arise from British Energy—that has become clear from our discussion on the group of amendments that included amendment No. 78. In response to an intervention from my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown, the Under-Secretary said that the private sector would bear the costs of any clean-up. However, he said to me that we must give the NDA power to deal with the private sector because the Government are the body of last resort in the interests of security and the environment. We would all agree with that, so there is a conflict between the last-resort position that the Under-Secretary described to me and the categorical assurance that he gave to the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown.
Happily, the amendments in this group would help the Under-Secretary. Clause 8(2) refers to:
''A direction giving the NDA responsibilities in relation to an installation'',
including one in which
''the NDA is to have a financial responsibility under section 24''.
Under those circumstances, the direction ''may''—not will—
''require the person with control of the installation, site or facility''—
that could be British Energy or another private sector operator—
''to make payments to the Secretary of State.''
If the Under-Secretary genuinely intends the private sector to bear the costs of the clean-up, I can help him because amendment No. 84 would replace ''may'' with ''will''. That would absolutely clarify the matter. In addition to that, amendment No. 85 would add the phrase
''commensurate with an estimate of the financial liability being adopted by the NDA'',
which is exactly what the Under-Secretary is saying.