Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [HL]

Lord Foster of Bath Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 20th November 2024 Grand Committee

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, I feel that I am standing in the middle of a perfectly good debate between the noble Baroness and the noble Lord. Perhaps we can reconcile it in some other way.

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

In the Division Lobby, perhaps.

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Moved by

[Lord Foster of Bath]

2: Clause 1, page 1, line 4, after “marketing” insert “, installation”

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[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, I begin by thanking the Minister for his willingness to engage with all noble Lords who have shown an interest in this Bill, and I thank his team for the support and help that they have given. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, on his new role.

We have frequently described this Bill as being skeletal. In the two amendments that I am proposing, Amendments 2 and 27, I am offering some flesh to put on the bones of that skeleton. I am acutely aware that many of the regulations that will arise from the Bill will look at products in isolation, but there are many cases whereby products are intended for use when they are installed within some system or other, and it is usually an electrical system.

Amendment 2 suggests that, when considering the safety of a product, we should take into account, where relevant, its installation. Amendment 27 argues that, when the product is installed into a system, the system as a whole, including the product, should require third-party certification.

Let us take as an example something that is happening up and down the country at the moment—the installation of EV charging points, more often than not in individual homes. They are installed by electricians who, under current regulations, register the circuit and the changes made to the consumer unit, but who do not have to register the EV charging point itself. That means that the certification body is not tracking where those charge points are, not informing local building control and not doing any inspection or assessment of the charge points to ensure that they are compliant with building regulations or safety.

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I hope I have reassured the noble Lord, Lord Foster, that the Bill as drafted adequately addresses his concerns behind these amendments, supporting both physical components and third-party certification standards. I therefore respectfully ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, I almost want to say that the Minister doth protest too much. We have been given a whole range of examples that he says illustrate that it might be that they will take installation into account. It seems to me that there is a much simpler solution: to accept my amendment and put it in the Bill, since that is what he almost implies he wants to achieve. Clearly, we will have further deliberations. In the meantime, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 2 withdrawn.

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[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, I support my noble friend’s amendment and the amendment that is still to be debated by the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe. The amendment that I propose is to strengthen and future-proof the Government’s ability to identify and respond to high-risk products on the UK market. It proposes a clear mechanism to flag high-risk products and then requires them to be subject to additional safety measures. Such products would have to be, for example, conformity assessed by a UK-approved body and marked with subsequent CE and UKCA marking.

The concept of high-risk products with special requirements applying to them is not new. Animals and animal products imported into the UK are classified under the border target operating model as low, medium or high risk. Each of those categories, including the high-risk category, has different requirements before entry to the UK is allowed. As noble Lords will be aware, fireworks, heavy machinery and some types of medical devices are already recognised and labelled as high risk. However, outside these types of products, the situation is less clear and, at present, far too discretionary. It may well be that the Government have plans for a clearer, less discretionary framework approach. But given the skeletal nature of the Bill, as we discussed in the first group of amendments, and given the limitations of consultation on secondary legislation, it seems that Parliament will have little say in what emerges in this area.

My amendment provides an opportunity for Parliament to have a say in clarifying and strengthening arrangements around high-risk products. It goes beyond that because it provides a way forward by making use of the fairly recently developed product safety risk assessment methodology, along with other logical approaches that are clearly listed within the amendment.

I will use the proposed way forward by illustrating it in reference to the area of lithium-ion batteries yet again, particularly in the respect of their use in e-scooters and e-bikes, which I have spoken about on a number of occasions. Many other examples could have been used to make my case.

Last month, a batch of imported e-bike chargers, intended for use with GIN e-bikes, was rejected at the border and destroyed by customs officials. According to the Office for Product Safety & Standards, the products presented

“a high risk of fire and explosion”

because of the poor build quality of the transformer and concerns about the fuse used, and the products did not meet the requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 or the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 and were therefore rejected and destroyed.

Frankly, however welcome this intervention was—and it certainly was—it does not happen all the time. Just a couple of months earlier, the UK cycling sector, including industry trade bodies, e-bike brands, bike shops and charities, joined forces in an e-bike-positive campaign to boost knowledge of e-bike battery safety, helping the public to safely buy, charge and ride them. The e-bike industry is also developing a new scheme to highlight reputable, high-quality brands that thoroughly safety test their e-cycles and batteries. This suggests to me that the industry itself is currently having to act in the absence of clear regulations in respect of high-risk products in this sector. Recent figures sadly show the loss of life and property caused by e-bike and e-scooter fires, clearly showing that the current arrangements are simply not working.

Indeed, lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters are a textbook example of a high-risk product. Prone to catastrophic failure from poor manufacturing or improper use, they can, as we have heard on many occasions in your Lordships’ House, explode and catch fire, posing significant danger. ITV News has found that, in the past two years, e-bike fires have increased by 204%; Electrical Safety First found that over 180 constituencies have experienced an e-bike or e-scooter fire; the London Fire Brigade warned that e-bike and e-scooter fires are the capital’s fastest-growing fire risk and are responding to an associated incident once every two days; and, sadly, earlier this month, two people lost their lives in an e-bike fire in Coventry.

The charity Electrical Safety First has been campaigning for e-bike and e-scooter batteries and their associated chargers to be classified as high-risk and require third-party certification. Its campaign, which I have been supporting for a number of years, now has the support of around 100 major national stakeholders, from fire brigades to Which?, and over 500 parish and local councils, among many others supporting it. This amendment would meet those demands.

I sought to make the case with reference to lithium-ion batteries, but, of course, we must address all existing and future high-risk product safety issues. The Bill must set down robust precedents for the identification of safety risks coming down the line, given the ever-increasing developments in technology and consumer behaviour. I hope that this amendment achieves this by allowing the Government quickly to identify high-risk products and set subsequent additional safety regulations. Above all, it ensures that we have consistency, rather than the lack of consistency in the current arrangements.

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[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

Just for absolute clarity, I did not say that the Bill was too discretionary; I said that the current arrangements were too discretionary and I want a change from that situation.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

I am sorry if I misinterpreted what the noble Lord said, but I get his drift. We believe that the operation of our current product regulation framework already recognises the point that he made.

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I have noted the comment of the noble Lord, Lord Foster, on lithium batteries and the e-bike safety campaign. He has put this point forward on a number of occasions with considerable passion. We feel that determining whether a product is a serious risk should be based on an appropriate risk assessment, accounting for the nature of the hazard and the likelihood of occurrence. These are general provisions providing baseline rules, but the Bill allows for more specific provisions to be made to account for particular circumstances.

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

I apologise but I am not quite sure what the Minister’s concern about my amendment therefore is. It specifically suggests that we put into the Bill a power for the Secretary of State to choose to bring forward regulations that will enable the classification of high-risk products in the way that he has just described. They are all included, including the recently developed framework, as possible ways of doing that within the amendment. I genuinely do not understand the Minister’s argument. I am giving an opportunity for clarity—so that in all circumstances there is an opportunity to use that framework.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

We do not think it is necessary.

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

Why?

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

If the noble Lord will let me explain, Clauses 1 and 11 grant powers to make regulations relating to product safety for a range of purposes, general or specific. The Government have set out in their response to the product safety review our intention in the months ahead to begin a process of sector reviews. They will consider whether any changes are needed to our existing regulation of higher-risk products to reflect modern challenges, such as those that the noble Lord has pointed out in two speeches this afternoon. We will also consider whether updates to the GPSR are necessary to ensure that cross-cutting and emerging risks are properly addressed, particularly where products fall outside current sector-specific rules.

Furthermore, in December 2022, the Office for Product Safety & Standards developed a product safety risk assessment methodology for GB regulators to use with non-compliant products. The methodology requires consideration of the tolerability of the risk identified. Where a risk is intolerable, a regulator can act robustly in relation to risks that may have a low possibility of occurring, but where, if they did, the outcome would be disastrous. A noteworthy example is the effort made by the Office for Product Safety & Standards to protect young people from the dangers of ingesting small, powerful magnets.

In Amendment 95 the noble Lord, Lord Fox, makes the sensible point that safe disposal can be a key part of protecting consumers and businesses. Clause 1(5) makes clear that regulations can cover safe disposal of products. We will consider whether particular products need specific regulation in this area on a case-by-case basis.

On the disposal of batteries specifically, the Government are committed to cracking down on waste as we move toward a circular economy. We shall have a discussion on the circular economy—I was going to say “in a few minutes”, but that might be a little hopeful. We are reviewing and propose to consult on reforms to UK batteries regulation before setting out our next steps.

Finally, regarding the question from the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, on the Schedule to the Bill, the things mentioned in the exclusions are covered by separate legislation. It is as simple as that.

[Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Con)]

I am grateful for the Minister’s indulgence; I have a straightforward question regarding Amendment 7 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Foster. The Minister has answered it thoroughly but I still do not understand. What else would the Government be doing, in looking at the efficacy of product safety, that is not already in the amendment? Surely the noble Lord’s amendment merely formalises actions with regard to product safety that the Government themselves would do in analysing what they need to do to protect consumers. I cannot understand the Minister’s resistance to at least being a bit more emollient towards what seems to me quite a sensible amendment.

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

Hear, hear!

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I think that is surprising support from the noble Lord, Lord Foster. This is an iterative process in Committee, and we are certainly always prepared to look at suggestions put forward. My response is simply that we think the Bill as it stands, and the reviews that will take place, cover the points he raises. The Attorney-General’s advice also suggests that we should not unnecessarily add to legislation, but we will give it some consideration.

Energy Bill [HL]

Lord Foster of Bath Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 17th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, I am absolutely delighted to support this amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, and to speak to my Amendment 98. For those who have not necessarily followed the debate, which has gone on for many years, it is worth pointing out by way of background that the International Energy Agency has repeatedly argued that the best way to tackle the impact of climate change is to reduce our use of energy and that the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly option is to avoid unnecessary consumption. Clearly, the benefits of such an approach are pretty obvious: increased national energy security and reduced carbon emissions, coupled with reduced household energy bills and improved quality of life, not least for those living in old, damp, mouldy homes. There are other benefits too, including, for example, the saving to the NHS in England of £1.4 billion a year—its estimate of the cost of people living in cold homes.

Schemes to deal with this have come and gone. Promises have been made but rarely kept. Existing schemes have been inadequately policed. The Green Deal and the green homes grant schemes came and went. Even the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto promise to invest £9.3 billion of public funding to stimulate energy efficiency up to 2024 appears to have been cut to £6.6 billion, as we see in the document produced in March this year. Measures that are still on the statute book are being inadequately policed, so the assumed impact is not being achieved. For instance, not all properties that should have a display energy certificate do so.

Energy Bill [HL]

Lord Foster of Bath Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 28th March 2023 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Foster of Bath]

58A: After Clause 114, insert the following new Clause—
“Review into fire risks of photovoltaic panels and lithium-ion batteriesThe Secretary of State must, as soon as reasonably practicable, lay a report before Parliament considering the fire risk of photovoltaic panels, lithium-ion batteries storage facilities and similar technologies that the Secretary of State considers appropriate.”

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, in Committee, I tabled an amendment that proposed to extend the zero VAT that is offered for some green energy items to the batteries used to improve the efficiency of solar panel arrays. Unfortunately, the Minister was non-committal, but, having written to the Chancellor, I found that he was rather more enthusiastic, and I was delighted to see in the recent Budget that that measure will now go ahead, so I have not had to bring that amendment before your Lordships’ House again.

However, because of my involvement with solar panel arrays and batteries, quite a number of people got in touch with me to draw attention to their concern about some safety issues with solar panels and lithium-ion batteries, not least in relation to fire. For example, Zurich Insurance recently did some research that showed that, during the last year, fire crews across England were called out 10 times a month, on average, to deal with solar panel-related fires. It gave an example of a claim that it had to deal with in 2020 for a solar panel fire in a block of flats in Kent which left 30 people temporarily homeless and caused £1.5 million-worth of damage.

But there is a much bigger problem with lithium-ion batteries, which you find in many household products, of course—our mobile phones, for example, and even those singing birthday cards that we sometimes get. Perhaps most significantly, more and more of them are in the increasingly large number of e-scooters and e-bikes. As there is a growing number of those batteries, there are growing fire problems, because lithium batteries provide high energy densities, which mean that they can create severe fires with very high temperatures and exothermic reactions, creating significant challenges for our firefighters. Research, again from Zurich Insurance, found that there has been a 149% increase in the number of e-bike and e-scooter fires since 2021. Research shows that fires resulting from other devices powered by lithium batteries has increased by 63% in that time.

Zurich Insurance has sent me details of several incidents involving lithium batteries, including an £84,000 claim for a scooter that went up in flames in a garage and a £13,000 claim for an e-bike that exploded in a customer’s bedroom. AXA, the insurance company, has given me evidence that shows that, in just the two months of June and July last year, it was involved in claims of around half a million pounds.

The London Fire Brigade and other fire brigades have expressed concern. In June 2021, 60 London firefighters were needed to tackle a blaze on the 12th floor of a tower block in Shepherd’s Bush caused by a faulty e-bike battery. In July of that year, five people in Walthamstow were hospitalised by a fire started by an e-bike.

The other fascinating thing is that, until recently, the number of fires in waste disposal sites had been going down. Sadly, that trend has now been reversed, and the evidence shows that somewhere in the region of 48% of all landfill site fires are now caused by lithium batteries. The cost to the waste disposal people and the fire brigades is something in the region of £158 million a year to deal with just that.

Clearly, there are very significant problems which need to be addressed, but we do not want to stop using these technologies; indeed, we want to move rapidly forward, exploring ways to capitalise on how best we can make use of them as sources of new clean energy. However, as we increasingly use these green energy sources, we have to acknowledge that new and emerging risks are coming down the track.

I accept that there are many rules and regulations that already govern the sale and use of these products, but the warning signs are there that the regulations we currently have—those designed to keep us safe—are not keeping pace with the real-world application of these new technologies.

Interestingly, the National Fire Chiefs Council recently said, very significantly, that

“the problem has ‘blind sided’ conventional systems processes and solutions”.

In other words, we need to look for a new way forward—and that is all that the amendment I am proposing does. It asks the Government to look into the issue and to bring forward a report as soon as possible. Nothing could be simpler than that, but it is what a lot of people would like to see happen. I beg to move.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for bringing this information to our attention. Some interesting reports documenting the risks are available, and I refer particularly to the report from the Institution of Fire Engineers on solar power fire risk and to batteryfiresafety.co.uk.

I have a couple of points to add to the comments already made as to whether it would be worth directing information about the storage of the batteries. It should be highlighted in particular that batteries are often stored in garages next to parked cars, which can have similar battery systems, and will not always be easily accessible.

The risks of lithium ion batteries from a fire safety perspective apparently have been well documented. However, the other element is that the risk with lithium ion batteries is not just fire. Once the battery fails—I think the term is “runs away”—the cells usually start to give off smoke. Thermal runaway is the chemical process within the battery which produces heat, as well as flammable toxic chemical gases, very quickly, often before any flames arise.

I think it is fair to say that, although the information is out there, it has not been properly documented. I wonder whether the health and safety considerations of the increasing use of these batteries and solar panels have been taken on board. Does the Minister think that there is a problem and, if the answer is yes, what does she propose to do about it?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his amendment on requesting a report into the fire risks of photovoltaic panels, lithium ion battery storage facilities and similar technologies. I was delighted to hear of his welcome in the Budget for the VAT exemptions.

First, I reassure the noble Lord that the health and safety regimes surrounding net-zero technologies are a priority for the Government. All electrical equipment requires safe installation and use. The Government recognise the importance of net-zero technologies such as electricity storage and solar PV in their ability to help us to use energy more flexibly and decarbonise our electricity system cost-effectively.

The data collected so far indicates that the risk from solar PV fires is low. However, it is right that we work with the industry to understand why any incidents happen and help to stop future occurrences. Over a three-year period and an overall cost of £135,000, the Government commissioned the Building Research Establishment to develop new guidelines for PV system installers, designers and the fire services, with the aim of making solar PV even safer. In February this year, the RISC Authority, the Microgeneration Certification Scheme and Solar Energy UK published an updated joint code of practice on recommendations for fire risk prevention in UK solar systems. Grid-scale lithium ion battery energy storage systems are covered by a robust regulatory framework, which requires manufacturers to ensure that products are safe before they are placed on the market and installed correctly, and that any safety issues found after products are on the market or after installations are dealt with.

In 2018, the Government set up an industry-led electricity storage health and safety governance group, which is responsible for ensuring that an appropriate, robust and future-proofed health and safety framework is sustained as the industry develops and electricity storage deployment increases. The Government are currently working with the group to support the development of a product and installation publicly available standard for domestic small-scale battery storage and guidance for grid-scale storage. They will both be published this year.

Most of the specific issues of e-scooters and bicycles fall within the remit of the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, and I shall ask it to write to the noble Lord. I can also confirm that Defra will soon publish a consultation on battery recycling.

I do not believe that a specific report on fire risk of photovoltaic panels, lithium ion battery storage facilities and similar technologies mandated by the Secretary of State is necessary. While I welcome the noble Lord’s intention, we believe that working alongside industry and the fire services to manage specific risks is the appropriate way forward. It ensures that these vital technologies are installed, operated and decommissioned in a safe way, while still delivering the best outcomes for consumers. I hope that the noble Lord can recognise the Government’s sustained commitment to enabling the deployment of net-zero technologies in a safe and sustainable way.

In addition, on the concerns expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, about lithium ion batteries and their ability to combust, I visited last week a very clever packaging firm called Tri-Wall in Monmouth, which has developed packaging specifically for lithium ion batteries to be transported by air safely. The packaging itself will detect any change in heat in the batteries that it contains and change the structure of the packaging into water that will put the fire out before it even gets out of the packaging. Very clever technologies are being developed specifically around lithium ion battery transport and storage.

I hope that, with those few reassuring remarks, we can ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, the time is late; I shall be very quick indeed. I was well aware, of course, of the work that has been done looking at the package of arrangements around solar panels and their batteries. I really wanted to use it as a peg on which to hang the wider issue of all forms of lithium batteries, in particular. I am pleased to hear about the 2018 established group. It would be very helpful if we could see some of the output of that. I am grateful, too, to hear that there are going to be new standards, but the truth is very simple: you can have all the standards you like, and the products may be okay, but if they are not used appropriately and not decommissioned appropriately, then real problems exist, and that is what is happening. There are a huge number of fires in our landfill sites because people are not doing what they are meant to do in disposing of batteries. We have to find a way forward. That is why I wanted a report. I am disappointed that the Minister is not prepared to go further, but at this stage I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 58A withdrawn.