My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, for his amendment. The Government are fully committed to ensuring transparency of investment contracts. The existing provisions are clear that in order for a contract to become an investment contract it must be laid before Parliament and published in order to benefit from the powers in the Bill. In addition to the contract itself, the Bill requires that the Secretary of State makes a Statement to Parliament that he considers that the contract would encourage low-carbon generation; and that without the contract, there is a significant risk that the electricity generation would not be built or would be significantly delayed. The Statement must also summarise the regard that the Secretary of State has had to the impact on energy security, decarbonisation, affordability and the renewables directive targets.
For the Hinkley Point C investment contract, the Government have already committed to publishing a summary of the reports from external advisers and the value-for-money appraisal of any contract agreed. With these provisions, we are trying to achieve a delicate balancing act between making available as much information about the contract as possible, while at the same time allowing commercially sensitive information to be withheld from publication. It would not be appropriate to publish this information if it would risk significantly damaging the developer’s commercial interests. However, it is crucial that the developer can provide such information to enable us to be confident that the contract represents good value for money for the consumer.
I believe that the current wording of the Bill strikes this balance appropriately. The information that can be withheld from publication, as the noble Lord said, is information that is a trade secret, would prejudice a person’s commercial interests and would constitute a breach of confidence. The key commercial information—the strike price and the reference price—cannot be withheld from publication. While the Bill was being discussed in the other place, the Government identified two areas where we are able to further improve transparency of investment contracts.
First, we decided that alongside the investment contract that is laid before Parliament, the Government will also publish a description of the information that has been withheld, and the reason for doing so. Secondly, we removed the Secretary of State’s discretion to withhold information from the contract after it has been agreed but before it has been laid before Parliament. This means that any confidential information will
have to be clearly identified as such during contract development, and there is no further discretion to withhold information once the contract is concluded. These commitments and legislative improvements ensure that there will be transparency in investment contracts, and that only the most sensitive information will be withheld from publication.
The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, asked why the Government resisted amendments to the Bill to restrict the definition of confidential information to information that is a trade secret. The Government’s intention is to publish as much information on investment contracts as possible. As I have already laid out, the extra things that we committed to after the Commons Report stage have now been put into the Bill. I hope that the noble Lord is reassured by the explanation that I have given and will withdraw the amendment.