Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, I was very pleased to hear the Minister say that a number of bidders are interested, because my understanding was that there is only one serious bidder. Am I right? If so and there is only one, would it not be better to wait for a better purchase price?
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will reverse their decision to end the business rate exemption for small solar panels from April 2017.
Baroness Featherstone: I thank the Minister, but I have to say that if one parish council in Wokingham can find that its business rates are going from £7,000 to £14,000, this will be the death of non-domestic solar roof panels. I urge the Government to look at the impact on schools and parish councils, which will be devastating. Will she also address the unfair and unjust anomaly whereby schools with charitable...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lady Parminter for securing this most important and timely debate. We have had excellent contributions from Members on all sides who have clearly understood the potentially negative impact that leaving the EU could have on our environmental, energy and climate change policies as well as the few opportunities. There will indeed be huge...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, gas is a fossil fuel wherever it comes from. Given that the Government are going to miss our legally binding targets on reductions in carbon emissions, would it not be better altogether if the Government simply banned fracking and got on with delivering reductions in emissions rather than increases?
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, first, I take this opportunity to welcome the noble Baroness to her new role. It is a big portfolio to learn in a couple of days. I am pleased and relieved that Her Majesty’s Government have accepted the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change for the 57% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 for the fifth carbon budget, relative to 1990 levels. Since I arrived in your...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, I speak for the Liberal Democrats on energy and climate change and it is to that portfolio I wish to speak this evening. We had been doing so well during the coalition years, but, from a position where Britain was already a world leader in offshore wind and could have become a world leader in other areas, we are now already falling away from the global race. In the six months since...
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to move the United Kingdom towards an energy infrastructure that is based on renewable energy.
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, this is a most timely debate and I thank all noble Lords who will contribute this evening. With the United Kingdom cast into a maelstrom of uncertainty and turmoil, this is a moment when we look to Her Majesty’s Government to stand by their commitments on climate change. Therefore, I hope and trust that, in responding to this debate, the Minister will take the opportunity to...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, first, I pay tribute to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Newcastle for her maiden speech. What a pleasure to be in this Chamber to listen to her. I could not agree more that when all else fails you in life, it is education that can transform your life chances. Right now, countries are meeting in Bonn for two weeks of talks aimed at turning the historic Paris pact into a...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, the creation of a series of small nuclear reactors across Britain would give rise to a multiplicity of potential new terrorist targets. What plans do the Government have to limit this threat, including scaling up the civil nuclear police force?
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the funding for the new interferon-free Hepatitis C treatment will come from the National Health Service or HM Treasury.
Baroness Featherstone: I thank the Minister for his Answer. I declare an interest in as much as my nephew was a haemophiliac, who died having been infected with hepatitis C. Today, I seek an assurance from the Minister that none of the £125 million—an inadequate sum—that has been promised to survivors, or families of those who were likewise infected, is used to pay for the new interferon treatment, which is a...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, it is our view on these Benches that carbon capture and storage and transportation should have been woven into the principal objective of the OGA. I hear what the Minister says, but it leaves me some concerns. Although the Government have made many arguments and given many assurances about the importance of carbon capture and storage, we on these Benches are not completely...
Baroness Featherstone: I am happy to answer the noble Lord’s question. The Liberal Democrats keep an open mind on all technologies which can advance our climate change agenda. However, in Peterhead, for example, projects were well advanced and should have been continued.
Baroness Featherstone: I thank all noble Lords for their contributions; I thought that serious and considered points were made on all sides. The Minister said that I did not address the issue of subsidy. I took it as read that we all want to see the end of subsidies, but the issue is the methodology for delivering that. As I explained that at great length during the debate on the fatal Motion that I tabled to...
Baroness Featherstone: My Lords, I fear that the Minister and I are not going to agree on this. However, it is not very long since we debated the ending of the feed-in tariff order, and I am sad to be here again so soon to enable a debate in which we on these Benches can express our dismay and alarm at the destruction being visited on what was a thriving world-leading industry in renewables—in this particular...
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to ensure that the UK’s long-term energy security is protected, in the light of uncertainty regarding Hinkley Point.
Baroness Featherstone: I thank the Minister, but he will be aware that there is a certain amount of coverage in the media: the finance director of EDF has quit; the value of EDF shares is falling; and EDF does not have a legally binding contract with the Chinese. If it does not proceed with Hinkley Point, what is the Government’s plan B for the security of our energy supply in future years, given that the support...
Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many schools are now using personal, social, health and economic education classes to inform their pupils on female genital mutilation.