Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Tim Farron

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The procedure that we have adopted is exactly the same as that which the hon. Gentleman adopted when he was Deputy Leader of the House.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The decision of the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr Hain) to reorder his priorities may or may not be a welcome development for the Leader of the Opposition, but it is a welcome development for those of us who are concerned about making the best use of tidal and hydro energy schemes. Will the Government make time for a debate in the House on the need for investment, both private and public, in tidal and hydro barrage schemes, not just in the Severn estuary, but at Morecambe bay, so that we can create clean, green energy on a massive scale, as well as thousands of jobs?

[Sir George Young]

Those are important issues and are part of our agenda to diversify the supply of electricity generation. We had a debate yesterday on Department of Energy and Climate Change-related issues and we have just had questions to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and his team of Ministers, so I cannot promise another immediate opportunity to address these issues. Later in the Session, there will be a Bill on electricity market reform, which may be an opportunity for my hon. Friend to develop his theme.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Tim Farron

Thursday 27th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for all the work that she is doing with her Committee, and I note her public service announcement about the new time for that Committee’s meeting. About one in three of the days that we have allocated have not been Thursdays. We should not devalue Thursdays—they are important days. However, I understand her request and I hope shortly to be able to make some progress and to shift the centre of gravity a little away from Thursdays. On her final point, we will be having discussions, not only on the allocation of Backbench business time, but on Opposition days and private Members’ days, to reflect the likely extended length of the Session, subject to the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill going through.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

I have in my hand a piece of paper, which is the written statement on the future of the public forest estate in England. Does the Leader of the House share my disappointment, and that felt by all of us who are committed to saving the public forests, that there was not an oral statement? Will he explain why there is not to be a debate in Government time on the future of that valuable public asset?