08:55 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Nigel Adams)

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bailey. I am pleased that the Committee have been allowed the opportunity to debate the draft order, which is made under sections 30 and 63 of the Scotland Act 1998 and seeks to confirm legal certainty on Scottish Ministers’ regulation-making powers under section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972. The powers concern environmental impact assessments in relation to electricity generating stations consented under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 that are located in the Scottish part of the renewable energy zone. The regulation-making powers are in implementation of directive 2014/52/EU, on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.

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09:00 Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)

The order amends previous legislation with respect to the Scottish part of the renewable energy zone. It is designed to correct amendments made to the Electricity Act 1989 by article 4 of the order. According to the explanatory memorandum, there was an “oversight” in the 2015 order, because its definition of “relevant waters” did not include the Scottish part of the REZ. This new order corrects that oversight and ensures that the same appeals mechanism applies whether there is a challenge against a decision of Scottish Ministers or an application for a marine licence in relation to an energy generating station development to be situated in Scottish internal waters, territorial sea or the Scottish part of the REZ.

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09:03 Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bailey. I will not say very much either, because there seems no point in restating what this simple amendment does. Obviously it just corrects a previous oversight. It has been agreed with Scottish Ministers, and it is obviously a welcome transfer of powers. We welcome any additional transfer of powers to the Scottish Parliament. Clearly, the Scottish Government are leading at the moment on the production of renewable energy.

On marine renewable energy, the written answer I received last week says that the UK Government are not providing any direct funding for marine tidal energy. Hopefully that situation will be rectified going forward, so that we can further develop renewable energy. We welcome the transfer of powers.

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