Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to ensure that energy service providers provide value for money for the consumer.
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much was spent on the civil nuclear police force last year, and what is the budgeted expenditure on the force for each of the next four years.
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, first, I would like to say what a pleasure it was to listen to the maiden speeches of the noble Lords, Lord Mountevans and Lord Colgrain, and I congratulate them. The Government were clearly in some trouble in bringing forward anything much from their manifesto into the gracious Speech, so in their hour of need I thought I would offer some ideas that might find a majority of support...
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many deaths have been attributed to air pollution in Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.
Baroness Featherstone: My view was that I prefer the supranational authority to our Government here; I was not referring to other countries. Sadly, my confidence is lacking in this Government.
Baroness Featherstone: It is an honour to follow the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, who really made my role redundant as he has said everything I would wish to say. On Brexit, of which I am sure it is clear I am not a great fan, I think of the phrase, “How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time”. This is obviously the environment and climate change bit. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Teverson and the committee...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, I find myself in opposition to the vast majority of your Lordships who have spoken. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Truscott, on securing this debate, which I regard as very important. I do not agree, or believe, that fracking will deliver energy security in the long term. I do not believe that fracking is sustainable or will help us meet our legally binding targets. I believe...
Baroness Featherstone: As my noble friend Lord Stoneham reminds me, their environmental standards are somewhat lower than ours. I am not saying that everywhere in America is unpopulated, but it is a very different territory from most of the United Kingdom. There will be people—such as people in Ryedale, for example—who object strongly to what is projected for their local environment. They will use the planning...
Baroness Featherstone: Other resources are coming on stream, such as green gas, hydrogen and so on. I object to creating a whole new industry, which will be a stop-gap, rather than encouraging our homegrown industries to develop the new technologies that we need to produce renewable heat. I do not see developing the shale industry as the answer to our question. I am not that keen on importing gas, but for the time...
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the White Paper The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union, on what basis they intend to withdraw from Euratom; whether they will seek Parliamentary consent; and what assessment they have made of the impact of the withdrawal on the British nuclear industry.
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, and I could not agree more with him on that last point. I do not take kindly to threats. There may be many reasons for which this House in its current form should be abolished or reformed, but expressing our views honestly is not one of them. Those in the other place who seek to threaten and bully us should be ashamed of...
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the fusion research programme at the Culham Centre will continue to be funded following the UK's departure from the EU.
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Connection and Use of System Code panel, and its modification and voting process, on (1) competition, and (2) consumer costs.
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to address regulatory, economic and market barriers to energy storage.
Baroness Featherstone: I thank the Minister for that Answer. Can he assure me that in the Government’s response to that call for evidence we will see the introduction of a regulatory definition for energy storage that will, among other benefits, eliminate the double charging that is currently imposed on such facilities?
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, 11.6 gigawatts of capacity from interconnectors has been paused because of Brexit. A key factor in ending that pause—as the Minister said, it will give us our security—will be whether the UK remains in the European internal energy market. What priority does this have with Her Majesty’s Government?
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what priority the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy places on climate change; how many of its civil servants currently work on climate change in a full- or part-time capacity; and how many civil servants worked on climate change in a full- or part-time capacity in the Department of Energy and Climate Change before it was disbanded (1) at...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Collins, and I could not agree more with everything he said about LGBT. Something I will never understand is the awfulness of a young person having to choose between their religious faith and their sexuality; I find that incomprehensible. I am very grateful to have this debate and congratulate the most reverent Primate on bringing it...
