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Climate Change Bill [Lords]

I beg to move,"That the House does not insist on its amendment No. 48 and agrees with Lords amendment No. 48A in lieu thereof, the Commons being willing to waive its privileges in respect of the Lords Amendment." Lords amendment No. 48A is a redrafted version of amendment No. 48, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Mr. Caton). I accepted this amendment on Report on the basis that technical aspects of the amendment may need further consideration and the benefit of parliamentary counsel's advice. Lords amendment No. 48A would require the Treasury, which would act through the Office of Government Commerce, to produce an annual report on progress made towards improving the efficiency and sustainability of the Government estate. The report will specifically cover the steps taken to reduce the size of the civil estate, to achieve further efficiencies from the Government's existing buildings, to improve the sustainability of those buildings and to ensure new buildings procured are in the top quartile of energy performance. It is absolutely right that the Government should lead by example. We must put our house in order if we expect others to take the necessary action to tackle climate change. That is why we have committed to take action that builds on the other commitments that we have made on improved sustainability. For example, Government Departments will be included in the carbon reduction commitment, which will incentivise the introduction of energy efficiency measures and the occupation of more energy-efficient office space. Departments are also subject to the targets for sustainable operations on the Government estate, which are reported through the chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce and the Cabinet Secretary. To show our commitment to delivering further efficiency in the public sector, the Chancellor announced in the 2008 Budget our goal for all non-domestic buildings to be zero-carbon by 2019, and that move will be led by the public sector, which will achieve the goal one year earlier, by 2018. We have therefore put in place robust mechanisms that provide a strong role for the Office of Government Commerce as the Government office that leads on improving the efficiency and sustainability of the Government estate and operations. Lords amendment No. 48A extends those mechanisms by requiring the Treasury to produce an annual report. As Members are aware, the amendment follows a private Member's Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for South Swindon (Anne Snelgrove), which would have required central Government Departments to procure office buildings only if they were in the top quartile of energy performance. The procurement of new energy-efficient buildings is just one element of the strategy to reduce energy consumption on the Government estate, but we are fully committed to procuring buildings in the upper quartile of energy performance. The report will allow us to define the top quartile and to monitor the commitment through the introduction of energy performance certificates and display energy certificates.