Examination of Witnesses (Quesitons 180-181)
MR MATT
PRESCOTT
24 JULY 2007
Q180 Colin Challen: If it is publicly
acceptable it does address the question of public acceptability.
Obviously, if people want to volunteer, that is a self-defining
group, but what then happens? What is the process after that?
Do you have to wait for another generation, five years time, before
you can roll it out across the nation, so to speak?
Mr Prescott: I do not think we
need to worry about the political cycle to introduce an incentivised
voluntary scheme. That can be done in the institutional sector,
such as by ourselves. The rules governing that scheme would emerge
in time. If we are talking about making a mandatory scheme, if
we are talking about when we get to that point, then I very much
feel that the Carbon Committee that has been identified in the
Climate Change Bill would be the group to create the rule book,
if you like, that governs the operation of the mandatory scheme.
The mandatory scheme could still be operated by public or private
sector organisations—and that is when I talked about a very
thin rule book to guide it—but we would need something like
OfCarb or the Bank of England to control the price of carbon in
the market but it could possibly be done through secondary legislation
in the first instance. I am not sure that we are necessarily overly
concerned about the political cycle. We would be if we were talking
about a domestic tradable quota because we would need to clear
away some of these instruments.
Q181 Colin Challen: Once again on
public acceptability. Has any of your research shown whether the
general public, accepting that there is an environmental challenge,
would be happier to do this or to prefer environmental taxation
or regulation or do they have that opinion in your assessment?
Mr Prescott: I believe there is
evidence emerging on that issue, but not from ourselves at the
current time. That is something we will be addressing through
Carbon Limited Cities over the coming months.
Chairman: Thank you very much indeed.
A very helpful session.
| 
