UK Parliament / Open data

Energy Bill

Proceeding contribution from Michael Fallon (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 4 December 2013. It occurred during Debate on bills on Energy Bill.

With the leave of the House, let me reply briefly to the points made in the debate. The hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) and I disagree about the amount of information that should be put on Bills. She wants corporation tax and more about the fuel mix put on there. Let us see what Ofgem comes up with in its search for greater transparency and then perhaps we can debate the matter again.

The hon. Member for Angus (Mr Weir), who is still in his place, suggested that we were trying to do something against the Scottish Government by the back door. I do not think that taking primary legislation can be characterised as doing something by the back door in whichever House it is introduced; it is right there through the front door.

Let me answer the points that the hon. Gentleman made. First, he seemed to suggest that the Government and the House had no right to close the renewables obligation for Scotland. Yes, we do have that right. The need to close it to new capacity has arisen due to the electricity market reform programme, which is a

fundamental change to our policy for supporting renewables electricity generation, and electricity is a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998.

The hon. Gentleman asked me specifically about the grace period. We consulted on the grace periods to be offered at the point of RO closure. That consultation closed on 28 November, and our response will be published early next year and we will set out the detailed arrangements.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

571 cc984-5 

Session

2013-14

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber
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