Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:00 pm on 9 February 2006.
‘(1)The Secretary of State must, during the period beginning with 1st November 2008 and ending with 31st March 2009—
(a)designate one or more national microgeneration targets, and
(b)publish a statement of that fact together with a copy of the target or targets.
(2)But subsection (1) does not apply unless on 1st November 2008 the Secretary of State considers that it would be appropriate to designate one or more targets under that subsection.
(3)For the purposes of this section, a national microgeneration target is a target in respect of—
(a)the number of microgeneration systems installed in England and Wales, and
(b)the number of electricity microgenerating systems installed in Scotland,
as at a date specified in the target (“the target date”).
(4)The matters to which the Secretary of State must have regard in determining whether subsection (1) applies include, in particular—
(a)the number of microgeneration systems installed in England and Wales,
(b)the number of electricity microgenerating systems installed in Scotland,
(c)the strategy published under section 82 of the Energy Act 2004 (c. 20) (microgeneration), and
(d)the results of any research carried out into the effect that designating a target under subsection (1) could be expected to have on the number of microgeneration systems that are installed in England and Wales, and the number of electricity microgenerating systems that are installed in Scotland, by the target date.
(5)If a target is designated under subsection (1), the Secretary of State must take reasonable steps to secure that the target is met.
(6)At any time before the target date, the Secretary of State may review the target and, if he considers it appropriate to do so, revise the target.
(7)If under subsection (6) the Secretary of State revises a target—
(a)he must publish a statement of that fact together with a copy of the revised target, and
(b)the revised target is treated for the purposes of subsection (5) and section (National microgeneration targets: modification of section 1 of the Sustainable Energy Act 2003) as the target designated under subsection (1).
(8)In this section—
“electricity microgenerating system” means a microgeneration system for generating electricity;
“microgeneration system” means any plant or system of plant for generating electricity or producing heat—
(a)which, in generating electricity or (as the case may be) producing heat, relies wholly or mainly on a source of energy or a technology mentioned in subsection (7) of section 82 of the Energy Act 2004 (c. 20), and
(b)whose capacity to generate electricity or (as the case may be) to produce heat does not exceed the capacity mentioned in subsection (8) of that section;
“plant” includes any equipment, apparatus or appliance.’.—[Mark Lazarowicz.]
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
