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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 16: 16: Clause 34, page 18, line 8, leave out ““another person”” and insert ““a public body”” The noble Lord said: I will speak also to Amendments Nos. 17 to 25 and 77, all of which are government amendments. I hope that I can be brief. I will begin with a brief word about Clause 34, to which the first group of amendments applies. It enables the functions of the Secretary of State and Scottish Ministers to be transferred, by order, to another authority, or multiple authorities, once it is decided which authority is best placed to exercise such functions. The power to make orders or regulations, however, cannot be so transferred. These are technical amendments but they all have a single purpose. Clause 34 currently refers to functions being transferred to a ““person””. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee of this House has requested that this be replaced with a reference to a ““public body”” in order to ensure that only public, rather than private, bodies could be tasked with carrying out the functions on behalf of the Secretary of State or Scottish Ministers. This recommendation is entirely consistent with our intentions in relation to this clause, as any potential transfer has been envisaged only in connection with public bodies, such as the Crown Estate. We consider, however, that the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s suggestions will provide additional clarity and may reassure the general public and the potential operators of carbon dioxide stores that, if the Secretary of State or Scottish Ministers decide to transfer their functions under this chapter, the transfer will only be to one or more public bodies. Amendments Nos. 16 to 25 all leave out the word ““persons”” and insert other suitable words. I turn to Amendment No. 77, which is in this group. It is a response to another recommendation of the committee; that is, a change in procedure for making regulations under Clauses 13 and 27. Such regulations, if made, would specify the powers and duties of inspectors of offshore gas storage and unloading and carbon dioxide storage facilities, respectively. Amendment No. 77 is proposed in relation to Clause 94, as this clause governs the procedure for making secondary legislation envisaged in this Bill. Clauses 13 and 27 specify that inspectors’ powers and duties may include powers of any kind specified in Section 108(4) of the Environment Act 1995. The powers contained in the section are extensive and range from the power to take samples and measurements to the powers of entry, investigation and questioning. However, the powers that may be given to inspectors are not limited to those specified in that section, and in that sense the powers in Clauses 13 and 27 are open-ended. We therefore agree with the committee’s recommendation to subject the making of the regulations to affirmative procedure because, due to their open-ended nature, they would benefit from more detailed parliamentary scrutiny. My department is content that such a power would be used infrequently and that, as such, the change in procedure would not be burdensome. We have chosen that option, rather than the other option recommended by the committee—namely, that of restricting inspectors’ powers to those specified in Section 108(4) of the Environment Act 1995—to ensure that the necessary flexibility in prescribing inspectors’ powers and duties in relation to the new offshore regimes we are creating is retained. That flexibility is important. I beg to move.