I thank the Minister for that detailed reply, and I thank my noble friends Lord O’Neill and Lady Liddell and the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, for supporting this amendment. I think the Minister missed an essential point. Obviously, the Government have made great efforts, and a lot of people in the industry and even in consumer groups think they have been properly consulted in the process of reaching the stage we are at. However, consultation is not the same as having a firm, continuous source of advice, independent of the department.
The names that the noble Baroness will supply us with may be exactly the kind of names we would want on a Committee of this sort. It is impossible to avoid all possible accusations of conflict of interest in this because the energy field is fairly esoteric. Nobody can be as pure as Caesar’s wife in this area, as we have probably all found, but they would demonstrate a degree of expertise. The Minister described it as an ad hoc technical advisory group, which does not provide the confidence needed in the industry, among the public, parliamentarians and consumers, that this process is being put on the best possible basis with the best possible technical, consumer, economic and legal advice.
The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, raised the issue of judicial review. All Ministers are beset with advice from officials saying, “If you do this you will be subject to
judicial review”. There are both positives and negatives from that. The process in this proposed new clause would protect people against frivolous attacks on judicial review. It would mean that the Minister had to go through a process with a body embedded in statute, had some responsibilities to Parliament and consisted of people with a wide range of technical, legal and financial expertise. I am afraid that reference to an ad hoc committee is not the same. It was also argued that it is Parliament’s job. It would probably help Parliament in the guise of select committees, as my noble friend Lord O’Neill suggested, to do its job in relation to what are vital contracts that will last for an enormously long time and have tremendous implications for our future energy situation. At the very minimum, the Government need to recognise that reassurance is needed that the proper process has been gone through.
The noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, who is no longer in his seat, mentioned continuity. People who are appointed for four and eight years in this area will outlast every Minister and most officials. It is important that that kind of expertise is retained. I would think of extending the terms if I were writing the proposal properly. The Government may have views on that. Having that separate from the day-to-day responsibilities of Ministers and officials, and the month-to-month responsibilities of a regulator is an important part of the process that we are putting into law. We are moving into unknown territory in some respects and doing so by a leap of faith—one that is well informed by those who have been involved, but not understood by those who have not been involved.
It would be a protection for Ministers, as well as for the process, the counterparty and the Secretary of State, if we had a body with this authority, independence and statutory backing. I am disappointed that the Minister is not tempted to go down this road. As I said, I never expected her to pick up the exact wording, but this concept needs to be maintained in our minds. It may well be that we will return to this later in the proceedings. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.