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Climate Change Bill [HL]

This group of four amendments would substantially rewrite part of Clause 28. To get the good news out of the way first, Amendments Nos. 153 and 155 will certainly be taken away to be looked at again. We cannot accept the other two for reasons which I have given before, because they go into policy recommendation. As I said, we are keen to ensure that the overall framework of the Bill is transparent, and the system of annual accountability through the committee’s progress report to Parliament and the Government’s response is an important part of that. The provisions in Clauses 28 and 29 will help to ensure that there is a well-informed public and parliamentary debate on our progress towards the 2050 target. Before Christmas, during other stages, I made it clear that we did not support annual targets but were willing to look again at how the annual reporting provisions in the clause could be strengthened. We will therefore look at the two amendments in the same way. We will also look at Amendment No. 151, which was just discussed. I am happy to give detailed reasons for that if required. We oppose Amendment No. 156 because it has a policy recommendation aspect. That is consistent with what we have been saying. Anything else I have to say would duplicate what I said previously. It is two you win and two you lose on this one, I am afraid.