Clause 49
Energy Bill
Public Bill Committees, 4 March 2008, 4:43 pm
Charles Hendry (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Wealden, Conservative)
I am grateful to the Minister for that. It was not a particularly important point of principle, but it happens quite often that the Minister feels he needs to write to us or to come back on a subsequent clause to give an answer that relates to a clause that we have gone past. I wonder whether I may ask for guidance from the Chair? May we ask for a suspension of the Committee when it is not possible to get an answer to the questions that we have raised so that the Minister can get the briefing that he requires and we can make a proper informed decision on each clause? We will be reluctant to vote against a clause simply because we do not have the information available. We wish to make a considered decision if we are going to vote against a clause, but in order to support it we often need information that is not forthcoming until later.