My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh. As has been indicated, the noble Lord is the right person to chair this group and I have no doubt that he will do so in the very fair
way that he approaches all these proceedings. The remit of the committee has been worked through with the noble Lord, and it is for him to decide who goes on to it, but I am sure it will be done on a cross-party basis. I very much hope that the noble Baroness can be a part of it, but that is entirely a matter for the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh.
I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Maddock, for her kind comments. I agree with my noble friend Lord Howell that a lot of money is being put into carbon capture and storage. That is because the department regards it as a top priority. We have made sure that that is reflected in the Bill. I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Young, and I am glad he has come in with words of support for the main aim of the Bill which is to maximise economic recovery in the North Sea. That remains very much the thrust of what the Wood review sought to do, and it is an important part of moving us to a low-carbon future. We cannot get there instantly and we are going to have to depend on gas. It is far better that it is British gas with British jobs and all the safety features and so on that we ensure through the North Sea. It also provides us with an historic opportunity for CCS. We have already invested £130 million in this since 2011, and we are committed to spending a lot more during this Parliament. We already have two projects—White Rose and Peterhead—moving forward. CCS is a proven technology. There are 14 plants globally and a further eight under construction.
The noble Baroness’s contribution was a typical tour de force. It is absolutely right that we have to see how we can provide incentives for the steel industry to decarbonise, but I am sure she recognises that the trilemma is never more evident than in dealing with the steel industry. I know because I have been at meetings where a lot of MPs of all parties, including the Labour Party, have been pressing us to do something about the energy price. It is a factor, but it is certainly not the only factor. The noble Baroness is right that there are many other factors in play and we have to move towards a low-carbon solution. I am sure that she understands that we have to do what we can through Europe to see how we can provide assistance, but she is right that this is not the sum total of what needs to be done. I believe that much more can be done on the procurement front. In the department, we are looking at what we can do about public procurement with the much more relaxed rules that are now adopted in Europe. I think the UK has been the first country to have its rules cleared through this new procedure.
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We have an opportunity to ensure that there is much more procurement of British steel. We also have some very good object lessons to which we can look. Crossrail, for example, has, I think, a supply chain that is 97% British. We are endeavouring, as a Government, to see what we can learn from that. Of course, there is also the National Infrastructure Commission headed by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, which I am sure will be looking at issues of procurement.
There is much that can be done. Decarbonisation is important. That is now a feature of this Bill through CCS, but of course the Government have to grapple
with the everyday issues, which we touched on yesterday, of affordability and security as well as sustainability. It is a massive challenge. As I said yesterday, there is no silver bullet, but I am most grateful to the noble Lord for saying that he will withdraw his amendment. We very much look forward to his report and the advice that he will be providing to the Secretary of State and the ministerial team. I know that he will be meeting the Secretary of State in short order when we can organise that to ensure that we talk through this procedure.
I should say that the letter that I sent to the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, and the terms of reference are deposited in the Library, but I will also endeavour to ensure that they are sent to noble Lords who participated in the debate.