Civil Aviation Bill

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. The point that he and I are making, and indeed the point that the Conservative Opposition may be making, is that the information needs to be in the public domain and readily available. If that can be done through the commercial flights officer that may be the appropriate route but if it can be achieved through an alternative route, such as the CAA, that may be a suitable response. I am sympathetic to the points that have been made about new clause 6, but more detail is required in the provision to make clear precisely what is being proposed on insulation for buildings. It includes the interesting phrase that the Secretary of State or the responsible authorities should"““insulate buildings against noise caused, or expected to be caused, by the use of aerodromes””." While I understand the reasons for including that phrase, over what time scale would the provision operate? Over what time scale would the Secretary of State and the responsible authorities need to plan for an increase in noise? The new clause refers to buildings, but is not as specific as it might be in terms of the buildings to which it should apply. Amendment No. 8 is a Conservative proposal that we shall support strongly. It provides that an annual report should be produced"““publishing annual figures for pollution and noise levels””," and, more significantly, in subsection (b), publishing"““a statement of intent as to what levels of emissions and noise can be expected for the following twelve month period””." That is an extremely important point. We need to publish figures on the amount of noise and pollution. We must then set targets and monitor them to ensure that they are met in future years, so that the users of a particular airport have a clear signal about where that airport is going. We shall certainly support several amendments in the group. There are some interesting proposals that need further work and there may be an opportunity in another place for the detail to be fleshed out. However, if there is a vote on amendment No. 1, we shall certainly support the Conservatives in the Division Lobby.