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Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill

We would be in a confused and unclear position. Perhaps the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith will explain what would happen if the Prime Minister laid a report before the House that made it clear that the Government had made little progress? The Bill does not seem to give the Government any specific duty to make progress—they must merely lay reports before the House. We would prefer the Government to take action, instead of merely generating more paperwork and red tape. The Bill would give the Chancellor of the Exchequer the duty of preparing and publishing"““a report on such fiscal measures he considers appropriate””." That relates to a point that I made in an intervention on my hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr. Newmark). It would be helpful to set out in detail the guidance that we would want to give the Chancellor. Given the Chancellor’s record so far, if he gets anywhere near this, people who produce their own power in a micro-generation plant and sell it back to an electricity company will almost certainly be pursued by the Inland Revenue for tax. Hon. Members have pointed out that people who already partake in micro-generation are pursued for national non-domestic rates. Given that the Bill invites the Chancellor of the Exchequer to consider fiscal measures, I cannot believe that he would come up with any such measures that would reduce tax. He would not pass up the chance to increase the amount of tax that people pay. If the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith gets his right hon. Friend the Chancellor involved, he might set back the course of micro-generation and energy efficiency, rather than enhance it. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst questioned the hon. Member for Lewes about targets. I understand why the Government might be attracted to the concept of setting a national target and having every local authority in the land set a local target. However, nationally and locally driven targets have not been remarkably successful in any other area. The centre can be too prescriptive about its targets, and if such targets were to drive people in one way or another, despite the rapid pace of technological change, valuable changes in generational technology could be missed because people would be sent off in a different direction. Given the lack of success of Government targets in other areas, I am a little sceptical about the targets in the Bill. Have the Minister and his Department given any thought to the target regime that they might introduce? The Bill establishes a broad power because clause 4(5) says:"““It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to take such steps as he considers necessary to secure that the target established in accordance with subsection (1) is met.””" The House thus needs to know from the Minister what the Secretary of State’s thinking might be.