The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Mr. David Kidney)

My noble Friend the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change today made the following statement:

The issue has been raised of whether, if an election should fall before the due Parliamentary process envisaged by the Planning Act can be completed, Parliament’s scrutiny of the six energy national policy statements and the ports national policy statement would be curtailed. We have no desire to short-circuit the process that has been laid down. It is a crucial part of the validation of the national policy statements. If the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee recommends a debate in the House of Commons, or any noble Lord tables a resolution on one or more of the national policy statements, and the debate cannot be held before the election, we intend to facilitate an early debate or debates as appropriate once the new Parliament resumes. It is not the intention of the relevant Secretaries of State to proceed with the designation process until such debate or debates have taken place.

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