Clause 25 - Expenditure and receipts of NDA
Energy Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm

Mr Laurence Robertson (Shadow Minister, Economic Affairs; Tewkesbury, Conservative)

I beg to move amendment No. 100, in

clause 25, page 23, line 33, at end insert

'by order approved by a resolution of the House of Commons'.

This is a serious amendment and refers to grants that the Secretary of State may make to the NDA. I also thank the Minister for the very helpful statement, which identifies that the total cost of the NDA's programme over the next century is £50 billion; perhaps more importantly, the initial figure is some £2 billion a year. It seems to me that the House of Commons should approve grants of that magnitude to the NDA, which is the purpose of my amendment.

Mr Norman Baker (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Lewes, Liberal Democrat)

I support the amendment, which is apposite and important. We are talking about large sums of public money and about a situation in which there is some doubt, at least initially and until the matters have settled down, about how the NDA is using its money, how accountable that is and what procedures are in place. We discussed the matter earlier, so I will not repeat those points. As the hon.

Gentleman rightly said, it would be quite wrong to hand out billions of pounds of public money without some say-so from the House of Commons.

There is also the unsatisfactory situation in which there is a dispute—let us put it no stronger than that—about state aid. We have heard about a legal challenge in Europe to the Bill and on that basis it would be very important, especially at the present time, to subject such monies to proper discussion in the way that the hon. Gentleman suggested.

Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)

The amendment would require a grant to a non-departmental public body, which is part of a departmental budget presented to Parliament in the estimates, to be subject to a separate approval process. I accept that £2 billion is a substantial sum, but it is appropriate for its approval process to be the same as that which applies to much larger sums for spending on schools, hospitals and transport.

Approval and oversight of all Government expenditure is carried out through the estimates and supply procedure. That includes grants to non-departmental public bodies and it concludes with the Appropriations Act 1994. There is no case for taking that sum outside of the normal procedures, so I hope that the hon. Member for Tewkesbury accepts that the amendment is unnecessary.

Mr Laurence Robertson (Shadow Minister, Economic Affairs; Tewkesbury, Conservative)

I recognise that Parliament initially authorises the payment of money. Quite often, payments that are made to the health service, for example, are itemised and discussed, and that was what was behind the amendment. Given that it would be a detour from ordinary parliamentary scrutiny, reluctantly I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment made: No. 17, in

clause 25, page 23, line 39, at end add—

'( ) In determining—

(a) whether to make a grant under this section to the NDA, and

(b) the amount of such a grant,

the Secretary of State must have regard, in particular, to the extent to which he considers that the NDA should exercise its power to make grants or loans of the kind mentioned in section 13(2)(c) in order to mitigate the effects of the cessation (whether before or after designation) of the operation of a designated installation.'.—[Mr. Timms.]

Clause 25, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.