Clause 60
Energy Bill
6:15 pm
Charles Hendry (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Wealden, Conservative)
I am grateful to the Minister for his preamble in setting out the way that the clause will work and the matters to which it refers.
Clearly, we want to be sure that, if a nuclear installation changes ownership, people cannot simply walk away from their responsibilities. However, how would the process of transferring those responsibilities to the new owner work? How would the Government ensure that a new company, which could be foreign-based, would take on the responsibilities of the previous owner? Simply by saying that they would not release the former owner from its duties, would the Government expect it to sort them out with the new company, or would the Government have a more direct involvement in that process?
Would the Government have powers to block sales outside the competition rules for people whom they felt that they could not hold to the same duties and responsibilities? For example, they could be companies outside the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, where they could not be held to account in the same way as the companies that had initially sought the responsibilities and initially had the duties put on them. What would happen in those circumstances?
We have also seen that, over time, some companies simply fade away. Not a single company currently in the FTSE 100 was in it 100 years ago; every one is different. Some companies demerge, are closed down or are bought by foreign companies. In those circumstances, how do the Government intend to ensure that the obligations on a current owner are transferred effectively to someone else?
Specifically on demergers, if a conglomerate that owns the nuclear plant at the outset demerges into a number of smaller parts, what happens to the duty? The Secretary of State could not impose a duty on, for example, a French company that had fragmented or simply to decide which element of that French company should bear the responsibilities. I am interested to know how that responsibility would be enforced.