Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2009

It has been a busy weekend for rugby but little did I think that, between three orders as Treasury spokesman and four orders as pension spokesman, I was going to get a hospital pass from my noble friend Lord Bradshaw a few minutes ago—he sends his apologies; he has to be at another Committee meeting at four o’clock—to ask if I would also take on this order. I will do my best. The Minister talked about the helpful report from the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee. He said he had written a letter about it, although I am afraid I have not seen it. Will he say a little more about the question that the committee properly raised—that is, that Professor Gallagher’s review indicated that it is doubtful whether biofuels will actually reduce greenhouse gases? It commended the Department for Transport on taking a more cautious approach but said that, ""due to the minimal evidence provided"," the committee, ""can only continue to question whether the commitment under the European Directive of requiring road transport to use 10 per cent of renewable fuels by 2020 is either achievable or desirable"." The Gallagher committee made the point that the case for biofuel use is not fully proven. I ask the Minister, as that committee did, for more information about how much feedstock is produced domestically and how much is imported. Obviously it is a heavy item that affects the carbon footprint. Where do the Government now stand on the 2020 target? I have one other, less serious question from reading the report. As I have to admit that I did only one term of physics at school and one of chemistry—there was no national curriculum in those far-off days—will the Minister please tell me what an ester is? I am afraid it means nothing to me.