Alan Whitehead
Main Page: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Mr Speaker
Order. I am hoping to move on to the next business at 11 o’clock.
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)
These proposals did not feature anywhere in the draft Energy Bill, the White Paper, the technical updates or the impact assessments, so I assume that DECC staff have been working hard on the new idea this morning. Can the Minister guarantee that when he has worked out how to do this, it will not impede the progress of the Energy Bill and its delivery to the House?
Mr Hayes
The hon. Gentleman is a great expert on these matters, and he is a member of the Select Committee that scrutinised the Bill so carefully. One of the first things that I did when I became the Energy Minister was to meet the Chairman of that Committee to consider the suggestions that it had made about the Bill. I do not think that that will slow things down, but it will certainly ensure that we get things right. I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s continuing diligence in these matters.