---

Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, I rise briefly so that the annunciator does not have to be changed, as it has had me moving the amendment for the past couple of minutes. I support the amendments in this group. On Report, I called the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, which had a similar intention, the Frankenstein amendment and this seems to be Frankenstein night, missing perhaps that extra final charge from the electrical condenser, but, none of the less, bringing new life to the committee. We welcome these amendments. Empowering the committee to conduct and commission its own research is an important concession from the Government. It is a credit to noble Lords in the previous debate and a credit to the Government that they have taken note of that debate. The Committee on Climate Change needs to be armed with the potential to find out the information necessary to combat climate change without a direct order to do so from the Secretary of State. It is highly likely that the committee will notice areas that need further examination and that need to be brought to the Government’s attention. Thus, it is welcome that the committee will now be empowered to do so. I hope it puts these new powers to good use. It is pleasing to see the Government finally taking on board a Conservative position: that this committee needs to have a power that comes from its scientific authority.