Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation – in the House of Commons at 2:31 pm on 20 November 2018.
Alan Whitehead
Shadow Minister (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) (Energy and Climate Change), Shadow Minister (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
2:31,
20 November 2018
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am afraid that leaping to my feet is a thing of the past. I am sure that you are aware of the recent European Court of Justice ruling on the future of the UK energy capacity market, and of the problems that this may cause for energy providers. I am aware that the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has made an unsatisfactory and possibly misleading written statement on this matter. Have you received any indication that he will be making an oral statement to the House to enable hon. Members to ask him how he intends to respond to the ruling and how the capacity market might be reformed in order to comply with it?
John Bercow
Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chair, Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Chair, Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion Committee, Chair, Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, Chair, Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion Committee
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, and for his characteristic courtesy in giving me advance notice of his intention to raise it. The answer is twofold. First, I have received no indication that the Secretary of State or any other Minister in the Department intends to make an oral statement on the matter. Secondly, if the hon. Gentleman is dissatisfied, as he has indicated he is, there are avenues open to him to try to secure attention to the issue in the Chamber. As an experienced and versatile Member of this House, he will know what those avenues are. I suppose I should add, in parenthesis, in respect of his dissatisfaction, that every Member is responsible for the accuracy and veracity of what he or she says in the Chamber, and that if the Minister judges that an error has been made, it is incumbent on the Minister to correct the record. I feel sure that the hon. Gentleman, who is nothing if not a persistent scrutineer of the Executive, will keep his beady eye on this matter.
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