Planning Bill

I am grateful to Members of the Committee for struggling to help me with the clause. I have listened to all the advice that has come across the Committee about how we can make it better. My first task is to explain what we think that it will do, and why it takes the form that it does. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, began by saying that we all really want to get to the same simple place: to ensure that decisions should not be made on outdated policy. Our debate has largely been about that, because we all agree with it. I will argue that there is provision for necessary flexibility of review within a stable environment in the Bill, which is what we want. By putting forward different sorts of timescales, the amendments challenge that. The suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, about ““continuously”” has been pretty comprehensively dealt with. It is in fact a recipe for general instability. We certainly do not want a continuous revisiting of any NPS in those terms. Reading Clause 6 alongside Clauses 11 and 106, we find that they set out the circumstances in which a review might be appropriate: when there is a significant change in circumstances on the basis of which any policy set out in the NPS was decided, and where, were the policy different, it will make material difference to decision making. We are looking at circumstances which change the basis on which policy is decided. I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, for his intervention. The problem with trying to find a trigger and describe a set of circumstances is that national policy statements will vary significantly with different types of infrastructure. In some cases, the policy framework over the next 10 to 30 years may change rapidly and significantly. I am not enough of an engineer or a scientist to be able to say which technologies; maybe the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, can. However, different technologies such as clean technologies will certainly come on-stream. We hope that carbon capture will come on-stream. There may be things that move faster than that, which we cannot currently predict. Other aspects of technology and heavy engineering may change more slowly and incrementally. This is why it is difficult to pin down in the Bill exactly what we would look for in terms of a change of circumstance, so the flexibility for the Secretary of State to respond to circumstances with the information at his or her disposal is crucial. That is why a rigid review of five to six years is inappropriate. A continuous review creates its own problems, but a rigid review might miss the point altogether. This takes us into the question of ministerial accountability. I shall come to that in a moment. We have had previous long discussions about why national policy statements now offer an opportunity for the Secretary of State to be visibly accountable for setting policy in a way that Ministers are not at present. That policy will then determine the way in which planning decisions are made. Being able to judge the circumstances on the basis of evidence that the time is right to update a statement is a challenge but is the right and proper responsibility of the Minister. We seek to create a stable and certain environment for infrastructure development to allow investment decisions to be made and to allow opportunities for the NPSs to serve exactly the purpose for which they are intended—to be an up-to-date and robust statement of what is necessary. Amendments Nos. 57 and 58 would put a timetable around the process and would impose artificial and unhelpful constraints. I understand the points that have been made across the Committee. As I said, it is important that we have the right process for reviewing national policy statements. I believe that the provisions that already exist provide this and strike the right balance. The Bill provides a strong safeguard to ensure that changes in circumstances are taken into account. Each Secretary of State charged with maintaining an NPS which is up to date and as helpful as possible to securing resources and investment is not likely to default on a serious duty to ensure that they are up to date. What would be the point of the Secretary of State neglecting that duty when the whole rationale of this measure is to ensure that we have a relevant policy which is right for the present and the future? But if there is a perception that the Secretary of State is neglecting that duty and has not reviewed a national policy statement when a review should have taken place, the decision not to review can be challenged in the courts, as my noble and learned friend Lord Boyd said. I take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin. Certainly, none of us wants to encourage judicial review, far from it. Nevertheless, the appropriate safeguard is there. However, Clause 106 offers additional protection. The purpose of the flexibility to update policy is driven by the need to ensure that necessary infrastructure is not frustrated because the NPS is out of date. This clause provides for occasions where a significant change in circumstances, although not at that point reflected in a national policy statement, was likely to affect the decision on an application. In this instance, the Secretary of State has a limited power to intervene in such applications. This gives him flexibility to retrieve an application when there is no time to review an NPS. Therefore, we have two safeguards. We have protected the process from becoming out of date and we have rejected a straitjacket on decisions. The opposition amendments would place an unnecessary burden on government and create an unhelpful environment, not least for investors. Amendments Nos. 88 and 89 concern the ““shall/may”” debate, which has cropped up rather late in the day. However, we are all glad to see it. These amendments would require suspension of all or part of an NPS where there had been a significant change in circumstances on the basis of which the policy was set out. The concern here is to ensure that the IPC only ever takes a decision on a case where there is an up-to-date NPS setting the framework for that decision. I offer the Committee reassurance here. As I have said, Clause 6 on reviews is understood alongside Clauses 11 and 106, which set out the circumstances in which a review might be appropriate; that is, when there is a significant change in the circumstances on the basis of which any of the policy was decided. If there had been a significant change in circumstances which meant that the NPS no longer provided an adequate framework for the IPC to take a decision on a case, I can assure the noble Baroness that the Secretary of State would not permit it to take the decision. The Secretary of State would tell the IPC to suspend its examination of the case pending conclusion of the review of the NPS, using the power in Clause 105, or, if the case was urgent, she would use the ministerial power of intervention set out in Clauses 106 and 108. In that case, the IPC could examine the case but make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who would take the decision herself. Why does the Secretary of State need this flexibility? Why is it ““may”” and not ““shall””? The substance of the argument is to maintain consistency of accountability. In maintaining that discretion, the Secretary of State retains accountability; otherwise, ““shall”” becomes a set of external facts on which judgment is made. Therefore, the Secretary of State needs that flexibility and accountability. As I said before, Ministers are responsible for policy, and it is they who should decide when a policy statement should be reviewed, and whether the circumstances were such that some or all of an NPS should be suspended. It may be helpful to explain what Clause 6 seeks to achieve before I deal with Amendment No. 61. Clause 6 requires the Secretary of State to review a national policy statement whenever he or she thinks it appropriate to do so. If the Secretary of State decided to amend an NPS as a consequence of the review, we would expect this amendment to be subject to the same requirements for appraisal of sustainability, consultation and publicity as a newly designated NPS. To answer my noble friend’s question, the Bill does not preclude consultation while you are reviewing NPSs. There is a process for consultation on the review.