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Energy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I join my noble friend and the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, in expressing appreciation for the way in which many of the concerns, particularly in relation to consumer protection but more widely about the regulation of this area, have been taken into account by the Government in their amendments in the Commons. However, before the noble Lord gets too complacent about this, he needs to recognise that we are leaving an awful lot to the regulations in a situation where there is considerable confusion as to how the Green Deal, which in concept most people welcome, is going to be delivered, and how the householders and landlords are going to relate to the rather lengthy chain between a bank or financial institution at one end right through to the installer at the other. There is a serious confidence issue here, which I addressed in Committee and which the noble Lord acknowledged, that the regulations and the code of practice are going to have to address. The fact is that information from neither financial institutions nor local builders—nor indeed government—is automatically accepted by householders and consumers. I appreciate that considerable consumer protection has now been built in, but the task that the Government now have in the process of drawing up regulations, guidelines and the code of practice is to make clear exactly what quality control—to this extent, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin—will be exercised by the body that will oversee the operation of the scheme, from the financial package right through to the independence of the assessor. The confidence that will need to be instilled in the market if the Government are to attain their worthy ambition of rolling out the Green Deal will require considerable attention in the regulations, the code of practice and the consultation. In terms of this Bill, we have made considerable progress, but the organisation that the Government are setting up for accreditation and oversight will need a lot of work before householders and those who are due to benefit from the Green Deal will be really convinced. As I have stressed previously, it is important that we do not make any mistakes at the beginning of the scheme. Just two or three bad examples at an early stage will ruin public confidence in it. I therefore plead with the Minister, who I know understands, that we ensure in the coming year or so as the regulations and codes go through that confidence of the householder is seen as their prime objective.