15:06 The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Joan Ruddock)

It is important that we should see the measures that we are discussing against the background of the Bill and the context in which they were discussed in the Lords. That relates in particular to what the Minister sees as the Government’s strategic role under the Bill and, therefore, the amendments that we are discussing. On carbon capture and storage, there is a strategic case for the Government requiring oversize pipelines to be put in place, so that we can develop clusters of CCS development around the country. We would be grateful if she could clarify what the Government’s views are on such a strategic overview.

The proposals that we are discussing are modest changes that are being made for clear legal reasons. It is a shame, as we on the Conservative Benches would all recognise, that the changes made in the Lords have gone nothing like as far as we would have wished. We are very disappointed indeed that the Government did not use the opportunity in the Lords to go further and make this a more fundamentally ambitious and important Bill. It should have included measures on energy efficiency and rolling out a green deal, so that people could have energy efficiency devices installed in their homes in a way that enabled them to enjoy the benefits of that work before they started paying for the costs. The Bill should also have included measures on an emissions performance standard that would require all newly built electricity generation to cut emissions. It should have included measures to reform the climate change levy, so that it became a genuine charge on carbon, rather than another tax on business—an issue that has been so relevant in the discussions more generally this week. The Bill should also have looked at ways of introducing real incentives, so that communities that host wind farms can benefit financially from those schemes.

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15:15 Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)

With regard to the strategy for carbon capture and storage and clusters, we very much agree with all parts of the House that clusters are to be considered and possibly encouraged. We want the best strategic position to be adopted for carbon capture and storage, and we agree with the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough on the potential for CCS. We believe that the discussions between those in control of North sea aquifers, the Government and the private companies that are developing CCS with Government support, are vital. As we have said, and as the Bill provides, we need to demonstrate that we can not only capture the gas, but transport it safely and store it safely for as long as is necessary.

It has been an immense pleasure to be a Minister in the new Department of Energy and Climate Change. I believe that the whole House feels that setting up that Department was a correct decision, as the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough reiterated today. For those of us who have worked in the Department, I can say that it has been a whirlwind of a Department, which has enabled the country to begin that absolute change in the way in which we generate and use our energy, and at the same time tackle the threat of dangerous climate change.

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