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Points of Order
3.32 pm
Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. It relates to Prime Minister's questions. The hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Mr. Flight) asked a lengthy question about personal equity plans and individual savings accounts. However, the Register of Members' Interests declares that he is deputy chairman of Guinness Flight Hambro Asset Management Ltd. It lists associate companies such as Guinness Flight Global Strategy Fund Ltd., among others. He has clearly been involved in advocacy on behalf of those bodies, because PEPs and ISAs are in direct opposition to their interests.
Madam Speaker: As the hon. Member and the House are aware, no Member has to declare an interest during Question Time. If he has some point to make--it seems that he has--he should approach the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards about the matters.
Mr. James Paice (South-East Cambridgeshire): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You will be aware that, over the past two days, many hundreds, if not many thousands, of farmers from all over the United Kingdom have been making representations in the House of Commons about the severe distress they face. In the light of the fact that the European Council of Agriculture Ministers has met in the past two days, have you had any request from the Minister of Agriculture, or anybody else in the Ministry of Agriculture, for a statement to explain what they are going to do to help farmers to get out of their severe problems?
Madam Speaker: I believe that the House can expect a statement from the Minister of Agriculture before we rise for the Christmas recess.
Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Hon. Members may not be obliged to declare interests at Question Time, but I believe that they are obliged to do so before they speak in a debate. Last night, the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon), to whom I have given notice of my point of order, made a winding-up speech on the National Minimum Wage Bill, but failed to declare that he is a director in the remunerated employment of Tamaris plc and has shares in Quality Care Homes, both of which are companies that pay £3 or a little less an hour. Although asked to do so, he made no reference to that interest.
Under the resolution of the House of 6 November 1995, advocacy and failure to declare an interest in a person or body from which an hon. Member may benefit is against the rules of the House. I must ask you, Madam Speaker, to investigate this matter. Despite an invitation last night to declare an interest, there was a flagrant, arrogant refusal to accept. The hon. Member for Sevenoaks has a direct financial interest in rejecting the minimum wage Bill, and keeping wages as low as possible.
Madam Speaker:
That is not a point of order for me. I remind the House that all hon. Members who have a financial interest or any interest at all in the subject under debate are required when speaking in the House to declare
Madam Speaker:
I do not want to prolong points of order, which seem to be spurred on once we get to this point on a Wednesday. I call Mr. Winnick.
Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North):
You said, Madam Speaker, as we know, that it is not necessary to declare an interest during Question Time. Does not that undermine declaration of interest during debate? After all, Question Time is a very important feature of the House. If an hon. Member has a declared interest, surely he or she may get out of declaring it by raising the matter during Question Time.
The hon. Member named by my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Derbyshire (Mr. Barnes) has a duty to explain the matter in the House. Otherwise, it could be said that he has concealed a very important interest. If he is an honourable Member, as I am sure he is, he will want to justify, or try to justify, what he has done.
Madam Speaker:
The House has never required any Member to declare an interest during Question Time. I can well imagine--as I am sure the House can--that, if Members had to declare interests at Prime Minister's Question Time and other Question Times, we would not get past Questions 3 or 4. I know that the hon. Member for North-East Derbyshire (Mr. Barnes) is making a very serious point--[Interruption.] Please let me finish.
Mr. Barnes:
On another point of order, Madam Speaker. The point that I am attempting to make may have been missed. The problem is not about an hon. Member needing to declare an interest when asking a question. It is a question of advocacy. Interests are recorded in the Register of Members' Interests. The matter is for you, because you may stop an hon. Member proceeding if advocacy is being engaged in.
Madam Speaker:
I do not enforce the regulation. It is for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to carry out such duties and for any hon. Member--in this case Mr. Barnes--to inform the Commissioner of the information he has. It is not for the Chair.
Mr. Gerald Bermingham (St. Helens, South):
On a totally different point of order, Madam Speaker. Incidentally, if I had to declare an interest every time, I would never get to the question.
When I first entered the House, before you were Speaker, your predecessor used to refer to tedious and repetitive speeches, as you have yourself. It has always been a rule of the House that hon. Members should not indulge in such speeches. Should not the question writers for the Opposition take time over Christmas to practise some variations on a theme, like Paganini, and return with a new theme of questions for next year?
Madam Speaker:
That might be a helpful suggestion for some of the tedious and repetitive questions that I see on the Order Paper from hon. Members on the Government side as well. I read the Order Paper thoroughly every day.
Ms Julia Drown (South Swindon):
I beg to move,
The practice of energy-rating houses, especially new houses, began some years ago. The intention was to show how energy-efficient a house was, so that a potential purchaser or tenant could judge one property against another on its energy use, and therefore fuel bills. Houses were given a rating for energy efficiency, but there were several unofficial rating systems, which were run by various energy consultants.
In 1992, the Environment Select Committee, in its fourth report, recommended that the Government sought to establish one national home energy rating scheme and actively promote it in the market. The Government have devised the standard assessment procedure, or SAP rating, which rated houses from 1, or highly energy-inefficient, to 100, or highly energy-efficient. To advance the cause of energy efficiency, the idea was incorporated into the 1994 building regulations, under which builders were required to produce an SAP rating for all new houses and for conversions which constituted a material change of use under planning law. The intention was to ensure one standard rating and to make it available so that purchasers had information on the energy efficiency of a house before buying or renting.
However, the scheme has not worked properly. If we can get it to work properly, energy rating could make an important contribution to getting everyone to think about energy conservation and efficiency. It is a win-win policy. The impact of energy conservation on fuel poverty and the environment could be substantial.
The Energy Saving Trust has calculated that energy conservation measures could save nearly 20 per cent. of domestic energy consumption in the UK by 2010. For some households, that would mean savings of up to £250 every year on their fuel bills, and it would save the UK as a whole some £6 billion. Such measures would also cut the domestic sector's carbon dioxide emissions by 14 per cent. However, to achieve those figures, every opportunity to improve energy efficiency must be taken.
The Bill would strengthen the building regulations to encourage energy efficiency, and would address thetwo shortcomings in the 1994 regulations. First, the requirement for quality control was not strict enough; secondly, there was no requirement to inform prospective purchasers or tenants of a house's SAP rating.
The effect of the first shortcoming has been expertly summed up by Professor Jake Chapman:
The additional costs of extra insulation and better boilers or controls are very low when a home is first built. Installing smaller insulation is cost-effective only if it is built in from the start. This is much more important for new houses, as new housing sets the standards of expectation for the rest of the market. If builders promoted their new homes as energy-efficient, it would have a ripple effect throughout the housing market.
My Bill deals with the shortcomings in the 1994 regulations. It will require tougher control of the issuing of SAP ratings, and will require those ratings to be stated in all promotional material relating to the sale or letting of a property. That will enable people to see how energy-efficient their prospective home is, and will be a further force towards greater energy efficiency.
The Bill will cost central and local government nothing, and will contribute to reducing fuel bills. It will help people to live in warmer homes, which, on a cold day like today, will be appreciated by everybody. It will help reduce greenhouse and other gases. This short Bill will follow the excellent work done on the world agenda by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister in Kyoto. It is good for purses and good for the planet, and I commend it to the House.
3.40 pm
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to improve the gathering and provision of information on the energy efficiency of homes.
The Bill seeks to amend the 1994 building regulations to improve consumer information and save the environment. It is about thinking globally and acting locally. The objective is to give consumers good information so that they can buy or rent more energy-efficient homes, which would reduce fuel bills and emissions of gases, including carbon dioxide. As my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, who led the British delegation last week in Kyoto, said:
"Unless we act now"--
on the greenhouse gases that cause global warming--
"we shall be condemning our children to a world of drought and crop failures, rising seas, mass migration and spreading disease."--[Official Report, 16 December 1997; Vol. 303, c. 129.]
The Bill would make a contribution to that important work.
"The current situation is that many insulation manufacturers, boiler makers, heating designers and architects offer free SAP ratings to builders based on free and unchecked software. There is no quality control over the software or the data entered into the programmes. Most people using the system have not read the Government's published guidance notes that explain the conventions for assessing properties. As a result, building control officers do not have any confidence in the SAP rating being debated and have no reason to pursue the matter further."
The effect of the second shortcoming is that purchasers and tenants are often not told of the SAP rating. Professor Chapman added:
"Many builders would be ashamed if the low SAP ratings of their properties were publicised to customers. Currently the average SAP rating for new private houses is about 70. This compares with an average of 85 to 90 for housing association properties. This difference is created at very little additional cost."
The additional costs at the time of building have been estimated at a mere £250 per dwelling, yet the impact on fuel bills can be substantial. Opportunities are being missed.
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