Clause 41 - Nuclear transfer schemes
Energy Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is right that my response to these amendments is similar to my response to his earlier ones.
Amendments Nos. 134, 135 and 136 would require transfer schemes to be laid before Parliament one month before they came into effect. That would cause difficulty, because transfer schemes may contain commercially confidential information. Although there are statutory provisions to exclude commercially sensitive information from the NDA's strategy in paragraph 6(5) to schedule 2, there are no such provisions for transfer schemes. A document laid before Parliament clearly becomes public, so there would be particular difficulties.
The hon. Gentleman will be familiar with the arguments on amendments Nos. 133 and 139. I hope that, like last time, I am able to persuade him that they are unnecessary.