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Energy Bill [HL]

I apologise for having asked the Minister a not particularly helpful question earlier. I want only to make a brief point that relates to this issue, and I should declare that I am a member of a local authority. I welcome the fact that local authorities are being brought back into the frame as well as the recognition that there will be implications at a time of financial stringency but, as the noble Baroness has said, local authorities will want to become involved in this area, and it is really important that they are. However, there is a slight irony here in that I am concerned that sometimes local authorities are unable to control building regulations sufficiently to minimise the amount of work that has to be done on these sorts of deals. If buildings are constructed to the specifications set out in the building regulations when they are first built, the problems might not be as great as they are now. The enforcement of building regulations and standards of insulation is a lesson because where in the past money has been saved in these areas, that has not had a good effect in terms of housing and energy performance standards for the future. I make the point, but it is not necessarily completely relevant to this amendment.