Clause 3
Energy Bill
10:15 am
Malcolm Wicks (Minister of State (Energy), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Croydon North, Labour)
For reasons that my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet outlined, one cannot be as specific as the hon. Gentleman wishes, because the question of what the marine Act will look like at the end of the day is subject to the will of Parliament. The hon. Gentleman surely understands that discussions are already going on, and will continue, about the precise and important arrangements that need to be made.
As I have said, in relation to offshore oil and gas, agreement has been reached with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that that is a reserved matter, and that therefore the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform should be the licensing authority. Perhaps I did not say that earlier, but it shows that we are already discussing in my Department the interaction of oil and gas with marine spatial planning.