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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 8: 8: Clause 20, page 11, line 15, after ““holder”” insert ““following consultation with the licence holder”” The noble Baroness said: The amendment addresses the section which allows the Secretary of State to change the terms and conditions of licences for gas importation and storage. The Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to modify the terms and conditions with or without the consent of the licence holder. There may very well be circumstances in which that is necessary. However, this open-ended power still makes us on this side of the Committee shudder a little. Therefore, our amendment would make a simple change, requiring that there be consultation on changes to the licence arrangements. It has been said before and will be repeated throughout our debates on this Bill that industry confidence will be a cornerstone to the success of the Bill's provision. Thus we seek to provide another layer of transparency to make certain that concerned parties will have their say. If the goalposts keep moving, we will not see progress. I suspect that the noble Lord, Lord Bach, will tell me that the amendment is unnecessary and that any sensible Government would consult on changes that are of any degree of importance. However, without such an assurance in the Bill we will never be certain—and I hope that the Minister will reassure me with a further explanation. I beg to move.