---

Energy Bill

My Lords, we on these Benches welcome this move. However, I get the impression that if it were not for Prorogation, we might be back next week and the cap would be 10 megawatts and we would keep on going backwards and forwards. At least we now know that the figure is 5 megawatts. I am sure that the Minister will agree that the industry and the sectors involved need to know what the cap and the timescales will be for which bits of those sectors. Given the urgency of the renewable energy programme, we are all concerned that there should be that certainty and that there should not be a pause in investment, which would damage those long-term aims, because no one knows which rules apply under 5 megawatts. I would love to hear exactly how the Minister foresees that happening and in what timescale, but I think he will be less than exact. As the Government have made these important decisions, I press them to get on with designing the scheme to let everybody know the rules of the game so that investment can take place.