---

Finance (No. 2) Bill

I shall speak only briefly on new clause 9. In response to the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman), I regard myself not as an accomplice but as part of a team that needs to drive through the agenda for tackling global warming. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Alan Simpson) on ensuring that we have an opportunity to debate this most pressing issue in our deliberations on the Finance Bill. My only hope is that everyone understands these issues and that we can gain the support of the nation for these proposals on a similar scale to the support that they give to what happens on the football pitch. It is critical that these matters should be debated not only here in Parliament but right across the country. I have just two questions on these proposals for my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary. What are we waiting for? How can we move more quickly? I was encouraged by the comments made about these proposals by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the all-party group on the environment earlier this evening. He said that he intended to put environmental issues centre stage, and that he was taking the lead at DEFRA to enable all Government Departments to play their part in tackling global warming. I desperately want the Treasury to do even more than has already been done to make progress. We have to ensure that we meet our targets, and to do that we must drive forward this agenda at national and local level. The Government have done a certain amount of reporting so far, but they could do more. New clause 9 will not cost the earth. It simply asks for an annual report from the Treasury so that we can have an informed national and local debate on the fiscal measures needed to speed up energy efficiency and introduce systems for microgeneration, small-scale energy generation and the conservation of water. That would signal to local authorities that they, too, were part of the team, and that their work in the local strategic partnerships was important in this regard. When the Environmental Audit Committee visited Woking, we saw the work that had been done there. Admittedly, it had perhaps been done on the basis of market initiatives rather than of environmental concerns, but it had nevertheless been done. We have also seen the work that has been done in Nottinghamshire. It is important that local authorities should be part of the UK’s collective effort to address climate change. I do not see why we should not all sign up to that as quickly as possible—hence the important debate that we are having now. Let me say something about energy efficiency. My constituency has very low standards of heating and insulation, and a very high incidence of fuel poverty. The Government are spending a massive amount on initiatives to improve health through warmth. They should take great credit for improving building regulations, and for seeking to make improvements through the code for sustainable homes. However, as our Environmental Audit Committee’s report on sustainable housing points out, even more could be done. The steps that the Government have taken could be greatly reinforced by a review of fiscal measures, as paragraph 50 of our report explains. We should take each and every opportunity to promote microgeneration, but we will need capital grant assistance to promote such technologies and help low-income households to benefit. The new Department for Communities and Local Government has already announced its intention to end planning restrictions on the domestic installation of wind turbines and solar panels. The Government are starting to make a great deal of progress. What is needed now is a way of overcoming the barriers to microgeneration, and securing the incentives that supply companies can provide for innovative action. It is vital for the Treasury to be part of all that. I welcome the opportunity to debate stamp duty. Our report said that the next steps should involve more support for the 70 per cent. of households that are owner-occupiers and mostly not in fuel poverty. We recommended that the Treasury should consider reducing both stamp duty and council tax in the case of houses built to higher environmental standards, and asked for consultation on the issue, to be completed by September 2007 as part of the spending review. I acknowledge that the Government have made a huge amount of progress, but we must accelerate it. It is vital to have a time frame consistent with consultation, but we also want to see real progress on the Select Committee’s recommendations.