New Clause 17 - Reports under section 1 of the Sustainable Energy Act 2003: community energy projects and renewable heat
Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill
3:45 pm
Malcolm Wicks (Minister for energy, Department of Trade and Industry; Croydon North, Labour)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
That was exciting after all the consensus. The figure of the Leader of the Opposition joined us in the Committee room, at least spiritually—and not for the first time. One day there will be a wonderful doctoral thesis with the title, “New Conservatives: the new localism and climate change”, in which the words of the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle will be much cited.
New clause 17 is easier, because in our previous sitting we had a good discussion about the promotion of renewable heat and community energy schemes. To supplement the duties being imposed on the Secretary of State in those areas, I agreed to consider associated reporting requirements. The new clause imposes a requirement on the Secretary of State to report on the steps taken to promote renewable heat and community energy. That reporting will be done through the annual reports on energy policy that are already produced under the Sustainable Energy Act 2003. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will agree that the new clause achieves the aims of the proposal that he withdrew in our previous sitting and that he will support it.