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Energy: Low Carbon Transition Plan

My Lords, the 20 minutes taken do not eat into the 20 minutes for Back-Benchers. As the two noble Lords took 13 or 14 minutes, I think that I am allowed some discretion to answer the points. As I say, the time does not eat into the 20 minutes for Back-Benchers. The noble Lord, Lord Teverson, talked about tight cash and the scale of investment needed by the private sector. He is absolutely right. The best approach that we can take is to present a cohesive policy and stability and deal with issues of planning and access to the grid. In the White Paper, he will see that there is a chapter looking ahead to 2030 to 2050. We are doing further work analysing scenarios for that period, which we hope to publish next spring. We recognise that it is now and in the next few years that companies will make investment decisions that will impact, for instance, on energy supply going from 2030 to 2050, so I agree with his remarks on that. I know that companies are concerned about the low carbon price. There is to be a tightening of the EU ETS cap from 2013. I think that it must follow that, if there is a successful conclusion to Copenhagen, the EU will have an opportunity to look at its own targets again and potentially to tighten further the EU ETS cap. We always said that we thought that it would be 2011 before the renewable heat incentive could be brought in. The noble Lord will recall that this is a completely new policy. We need to get the work right and we hope to consult on it later in the year. As for grid access, interim changes have been made introducing a system of connect and manage, which allows early access to the grid, but we must have permanent arrangements. Ofgem and the companies have not been able to reach agreement on this, which is why the Government are going to intervene. We will publish our deliberations in due course. Finally, I understand the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, about ensuring that we have the right skills in nuclear, renewables and, indeed, coal carbon capture and storage. We are very much committed to working with our partners in government and business to make sure that we do. The work of the National Skills Academy is one example of how we intend to do it. I thank both noble Lords for their overall welcome.