---

Planning Bill

My Lords, how does the Minister reconcile what he has just said with the actual words in the amendment? It says: "““Before designating a statement as a national policy statement for the purposes of this Act the Secretary of State must be satisfied””." The substance of the right reverend Prelate’s amendment is a responsibility on the Secretary of State to be satisfied that, "““policies in the statement contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change””," sustainability, and all those other things. It is the Secretary of State who must be satisfied to that effect. So I do not follow the Minister’s deduction that the amendment in some way diverts the responsibility from where it clearly lies in the amendment, which is with the Secretary of State.