Ian Lavery
Main Page: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)(13 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Chris Huhne
I am very sympathetic to my hon. Friend’s points. There is an important agenda for trying to make water use sustainable, as well as the other elements covered by the green deal. The difficulty lies in attaching measures that would affect water to an electricity and gas Bill, and that has so far proved insuperable for the ministerial team. We would like to see real improvements, however, and we have been working across Government on this. I know that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman) is also concerned about this, and is working hard on proposals.
Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)
The Secretary of State will be aware that the Hatfield colliery in South Yorkshire is in administration. It has more than 100 million tonnes of coal. Has he had meetings with the owners or their representatives to try to resolve the situation, and will he agree to meet me and other representatives to discuss it?
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)
We had regular contact with the owners prior to the administration. We have not had direct face-to-face contact with them subsequently, because we believe that this is a matter for them to sort out with the administrators. However, we recognise the great potential of that location and of the technology that is being developed there for carbon capture and storage, and as we take forward our plans for CCS, we hope that the plant will still be able to bid into the process.