Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, the amendment shortens the timeframe within which the annual report must be laid. Instead of waiting until March of next year, the amendment brings it back to December and we support it. I am sure that the Minister understands our concerns. Two years is a long time, and it seems absurd that the Government cannot get the figures together in a more timely fashion. March is now upon us. Had this Bill come into effect years before, we would this month be debating the annual report for 2006. Since then, there have been three different Secretaries of State for Defra, as well as a new Prime Minister. If we are to have real government accountability, the Government need seriously to consider the amendment. There is always a risk with the measures under this Bill that we will find out about what is happening long after it has been done. The effectiveness of accountability is inversely proportionate to the length of time between the end of a period and the report on that period. Shortening the timeframe necessarily strengthens the accountability. We do not want the report to become overshadowed by political spin. Having a report published in the second year would allow Ministers the chance to claim that the problems of the previous two years were no longer important or germane. It is thus extremely important that the timeframe is shortened. Will the Minister explain the circumstances that might lead to such a delay? Will he be specific about the sorts of things that need to be carried out to assemble the report and outline how long each aspect is anticipated to take? I expect there will be much discussion about the collection of data. I ask the Minister for some examples. Can he explain the nature of the data collection with regard to time periods? Is it a matter of calculations? Will surveys need to be done and collected? Is this an administrative problem? Does he feel that if there were to be more resources in Defra, he would be able to do it quicker or is it simply that the data can only be gathered in an historical perspective? There might be some problems with data collection; however, I hope that the Minister shares our concern about the timeframe of the reports. In an ideal world, we would like to see it reduced. What has been done to research streamlining the collection process? What specific ways have the Government considered in this regard? Is there any way to improve on it?