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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 42: 42: Clause 43, page 40, line 9, at end insert— ““( ) the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and ( ) any relevant local authority.”” The noble Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 43, 44 and 45. All the amendments in this group relate to different aspects of consultation on nuclear decommissioning programmes. Amendments Nos. 42 and 43 are designed to specify who should be considered as an ““interested body”” during consultation on the approval of the programme. It is sensible to include in the Bill provision for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to be consulted. We understand that the NDA might play a role in any event and that it reports directly to the Secretary of State. However, specific inclusion would enshrine in law what might be intended as matter of course. We also feel strongly that the relevant local authorities should be consulted. Decommissioning programmes have the potential to have enormous impacts on them. Amendment No. 44 would make a similar change to Clause 46 and include the local authority among those organisations invited to make representations about proposals to modify a nuclear decommissioning programme. It seems good practice to include the local authority before programmes are approved and formal submissions on changes to a programme are made. The final amendment in this group would extend the consultation on guidance to include the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and any relevant local authority. The impact of a programme on the local community could be wide-ranging—on transport, for example. The effects would best be understood by those in the local authority, who might be helpful in pointing out local concerns that would otherwise have been missed by centrally imposed guidance. I beg to move.