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32 Clause 181, page 138, line 38, leave out from "must" to end of line 46 and insert—
"(a) publish a draft of any scheme proposed to be established by the order;
(b) publish an assessment of the costs likely to be incurred by different persons in consequence of the order; and
(c) consult authorised suppliers and such other persons likely to be affected by the order as he considers appropriate.
( ) An assessment published under subsection (7)(b) must set out, in particular, the Secretary of State's assessment of the likely effect of the order on charges for electricity in Great Britain.
( ) Subsection (7) may be satisfied by publications and consultation taking place wholly or partly before the commencement of this section."
33 Page 139, line 30, leave out "An order under" and insert "The power to make an order containing provision authorised by"
Lord Whitty: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 32 and 33 to what was Clause 181 when it left this place. The clause concerned the power to allow an adjustment to transmission charges for renewable generators in a specific area.
These government amendments are made, by and large, by simple drafting changes. They do not seek to alter the spirit of the amendments made here, except perhaps in that they remove the duty on the Secretary of State to produce an annual report covering the costs and impact of any scheme established under the clause. On that point, the cost of any scheme to consumers should not change substantially from year to year, and therefore the requirement for an annual report seems unnecessary.
It is also worth remembering that the scheme will have a duration of only five years. After that time, another order would be needed to extend it or to create another scheme for a maximum of a further five years.
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At that point, the costs and benefits of any extension would be published and no doubt, if necessary, debated. An annual report in relation to this power would only be an unnecessary addition to bureaucracy.
The amendments also make it clear that consultation on the use of the power may take place before this section is commenced. I do not think that there is any hostility to that. Such a provision was not in place previously, and the amendments provide for that. The other changes are simple drafting changes.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 32 and 33.—(Lord Whitty.)
Lord Jenkin of Roding: My Lords, I moved the original amendment introducing the new clause at Third Reading. I well remember that the House accepted it with a significant majority against the Government's advice. I can only say how delighted I am that the Government have now recognised that there is merit in the proposal that we put forward—particularly the proposal that there should be a draft scheme and an assessment of the likely costs and how the costs will fall on different persons.
I want to go one stage further. As I indicated in an earlier debate today, I believe that it would be helpful if in some way the costs of the whole renewable energy policy, which, as I said, is being paid for not by the Government but by consumers, could be reflected as a renewable energy surcharge on consumers' bills. They are paying for it, but the costs are not separated out. At least, under this clause, for the transmission purpose there will now be a draft of the scheme, an assessment of the costs likely to be incurred and an obligation to consult. That preserves the heart of the new clause which we inserted, and that I welcome. I am glad that it has survived what otherwise might have been the chop.
On Question, Motion agreed to.
34 Clause 189, page 145, line 39, after "than" insert "sections (Imposition of civil penalties) to (Appeals against civil penalties) or"
35 Clause 194, page 150, line 6, after "sections", insert "(Microgeneration),"
Lord Whitty: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 34 and 35.
Moved, that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 34 and 35.—(Lord Whitty.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
36
Clause 194, page 150, line 8, leave out subsection (5)
Lord Whitty: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 36. It deletes a privilege amendment inserted into the Bill when it left this House after Third Reading.
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Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 36.—(Lord Whitty.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
37 Schedule 2, page 161, line 27, at end insert—
"( ) The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a copy of anything that the NDA publishes in accordance with sub-paragraph (1) or (2), and the Scottish Ministers must lay before the Scottish Parliament a copy of anything that is so published."
38 Schedule 3, page 164, line 5, at end insert—
"( ) The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a copy of anything that the NDA publishes in accordance with sub-paragraph (1) or (2), and the Scottish Ministers must lay before the Scottish Parliament a copy of anything that is so published."
39 Schedule 6, page 180, line 4, leave out "transfer"
40 Schedule 7, page 184, line 28, leave out "issued out of the Consolidated Fund" and insert "paid by the Secretary of State"
41 Schedule 9, page 202, line 23, leave out "1988" and insert "Taxes"
Lord Whitty: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 37 to 41.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 37 to 41.—(Lord Whitty.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Children Bill [HL]
Baroness Andrews moved Amendment No. 1:
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 1, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 5, 14, 16, 17 and 45. It will be fairly obvious to the House that these are technical amendments arising from a change made to the Bill on Report. I shall respond to the amendments tabled by the Opposition at the end of the debate.
As noble Lords will remember very well, when we debated this Bill on Report an amendment was passed that fundamentally changed the commissioner's general function under Clause 2. The main change was that instead of,
The other changes introduced by that amendment included restricting the commissioner's Clause 2 function to England and extending the definition of "children" for the purposes of Clause 2 to include certain groups of young adults.
I would not want to go back over the debate that we had on Report. I remind the House that my noble friend resisted that amendment and it is now a matter
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for debate at another time and in another place. But, today, in introducing these amendments I must correct certain anomalies that arose from the change to the Bill and I must correct one minor error in a reference to other legislation. By convention, we must ensure that the Bill leaves this House with any such anomalies corrected.
Perhaps I may briefly explain the amendments. Most of them are the result of restricting the commissioner's Clause 2 function to England. Amendment No. 1 removes words that are now simply superfluous. Those words were required when the commissioner's Clause 2 was UK-wide to make it clear that the UK role was subject to the conditions in Clause 6 that prevented the commissioner becoming involved in devolved matters in the other nations. Now that there is no UK-wide role in Clause 2, those words are clearly not required.
Amendment No. 14 is similar. Subsections (1) and (2) of Clause 6 respectively set out the restrictions on the commissioner's UK-wide function in Clause 2 and place a requirement on him to take account of the other commissioners' work and views when discharging that function. Now that there is no UK-wide role in Clause 2, these subsections are also redundant.
Amendments Nos. 16 and 17 are both needed in consequence of the removal of Clause 6(1) by government Amendment No. 14. Amendment No. 16 is needed to prevent the commissioner from holding an inquiry under Clause 4 into a case where the issues it raises relate to a devolved matter in relation to children in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Amendment No. 17 prevents the Secretary of State directing the commissioner to hold an inquiry under Clause 5 where the issues it raises relate to a devolved matter in the other countries of the UK. So, those are the mirror clauses.
Those are the amendments that now arise from the commissioner's Clause 2 function becoming limited to England. The other two amendments in this group relate to the extension of the definition of the word "children" in Clause 2(10). Amendment No. 5 corrects a technical error. The subsection to bring care leavers over 18 within the commissioner's remit refers to the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. In fact, that is not right. The reference should be not to the 2000 Act but to the relevant sections of the Children Act 1989 which were inserted by the 2000 Act and set out the relevant local authority duties.
Amendment No. 45 qualifies the definition of "children" in Clause 52. As Clause 2(10) has widened the definition for the purposes of Clause 2, that fact must be reflected in the Clause 52 definition. I beg to move.
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