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Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill

I am rather torn. On the one hand, much of the information required under new clause 3 is already available but, on the other, my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) is seeking additional information. We must probe the measure to establish its efficacy and how much value it adds to the debate. No one in the House would shrink from the need for an open and frank debate about the relative values of different sources of energy, not least nuclear energy, which I strongly support, as do most of my parliamentary colleagues, as far as my conversations reveal. When my hon. Friend set out the information that he required he gave the game away by revealing to the House that he had elicited a considerable amount of that information from existing sources. That illustrates the dilemma that we face in such cases, as information is already available in the Library and in responses to parliamentary questions. I gather that there are things called websites that purport to give information, but the reason why colleagues should rely on them when they are strongly advised not to believe a word that they read in the newspapers eludes me. That discussion, however, is for another day. Given the plethora of information sources, it is ironic that my hon. Friend should seek to add his new clause to the Bill. There is an echo of our earlier debate, because we need to prevent the Bill from being burdened with additional provisions, as the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) has just said but, equally, we have just agreed without a vote a substantial new clause tabled by the Minister. We will always be in two minds about such matters. My hon. Friend wishes to place a new duty on the Secretary of State. To reiterate what I said earlier, the word ““duty”” always gives me pause for thought, because I am reluctant to add to the burdens even of these Secretaries of State, as that can distract them from other important matters and, if we are not careful, increase the burden on the taxpayer, who always pays for the resources needed to discharge those duties. We should not be under any illusion—it is not the Secretary of State who undertakes these things but officials acting on his behalf. We are therefore talking about departmental resources and priorities, and we must ask ourselves whether the additional information that my hon. Friend is seeking to elicit and lay before Parliament will be beneficial. A new duty will be imposed on the Secretary of State, and information will be required every calendar year. I am not sure whether annual reports are of much value in helping us to deal with the great issues of climate change, greenhouses gases, emissions and so on. May I suggest to my hon. Friend in a friendly spirit that it is long-term trends that are important, not annual changes? In the 1970s, the experts told us that we were definitely entering another ice age, but they soon had to reverse that opinion, which demonstrates that an annual snapshot of emissions, the climate and so on is arguably of little value.