My Lords, I again thank the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, for his amendment, which would require investment contracts relating to electricity generation stations in Northern Ireland to be entered into jointly with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment. Instead, the Bill currently provides for a contract to be entered into with the consent of the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment. For the information of the Committee, I will lay out our position and then try to respond to the noble Lord’s questions.
The amendment would add the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment as a party to the contract, but it would not confer the powers in Schedule 2 relating to administration and payments under the contract, which apply only to the Secretary of State. This would create serious practical difficulties in administering the contract.
It is not clear from the amendment as drafted what obligations or liabilities the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment would have under the investment contract. Furthermore, there is no power currently in the Bill that would allow the Northern Irish Minister to transfer the investment contract to the CFD counterparty once that is established, as we envisage will happen for all investment contracts. It is difficult to see how this would work in a tripartite arrangement given the current powers.
The Secretary of State’s powers in Schedule 2 extend to Northern Ireland to ensure payments can be made to electricity generation stations in Northern Ireland. This position has been agreed with the Northern Ireland Executive, and the Northern Ireland Assembly passed a legislative consent Motion on 12 February to enable the UK Parliament to legislate to provide the Secretary of State with these functions.
I reassure the noble Lord that gaining the consent of the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment will include gaining the consent of its Minister. The Minister will therefore need to give consent to any investment contract relating to generation in Northern Ireland.
The noble Lord asked how CFDs would apply in Northern Ireland. UK and Northern Ireland Ministers agree that the preferred approach is a UK-wide one with an associated institutional framework. We are working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive
to design the application of the FIT-CFD for the whole of the UK. UK Ministers will set FIT-CFD strike prices in Northern Ireland in conjunction with Northern Ireland Ministers and the cost of support will be socialised across the UK. However, Northern Ireland Ministers will maintain the right to set Northern Ireland-only strike prices for CFDs, if required.
I hope the noble Lord is reassured that we are giving an important role to the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment in relation to investment contracts in Northern Ireland. Given that reassurance, I hope that he will agree to withdraw his amendment. He asked me to write to him on a question he raised to which I do not have the answer at the moment. I will look at Hansard carefully to ensure that I have given him and the Committee a response to points raised earlier in the debate on his amendment.