Lembit Öpik (Shadow Minister (Housing), Department for Communities and Local Government; Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)

The Minister may treat this as a rhetorical point. In light of what he said and the potential confusion that I think will persist, given the framing of the legislation, he might want to revisit clause 243 and subsequent clauses between now and Report stage, in order that he can be confident that the structure of the clauses will not lead to the type of confusion that we have just discussed. We do not need to have the same debate again, but I counsel him to reconsider this group of clauses. I might even do some  research myself between now and Report stage to see whether his optimism about people’s understanding of stars versus alphabetic labelling is as straightforward and robust as he claims.

Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)

I look forward to seeing a copy of the Liberal Democrat Focus sheet about that. The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. Although I was reluctant to discuss clause 243 because I thought that an accusation might be levelled at me with regard to a list, I think that it is important to have as clear a definition of sustainability as possible to try to avoid uncertainty in the market. I take on board the manner in which he asked the question, and I will certainly go away and look at it again.