John Robertson
Main Page: John Robertson (Labour - Glasgow North West)Government Levies on Energy Bills
John Robertson Excerpts
John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr Yeo). He does an excellent job as Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee and it is a pleasure to be a member of it.
My great fear is that we are losing sight of climate change. With the country in austerity, people see cheap fossil fuel as an answer to their prayers as they try to keep costs down. However, climate change causes long-term damage, as we have seen with the recent floods, which are more than a little unusual. Some of us believe that that is down to climate change in at least a small way, if not in a large way.
The levies are important. About 50% of the cost goes to pensioners and those on low incomes who need help from schemes such as the warm home discount. The rest goes towards increasing investment in new plants, in the hope that there will be affordable energy in the long run. I have often taken part in debates on these matters and I make no apology for wanting to look after those in society who have the least and who need the most help.
The explanation of the levy control framework by Her Majesty’s Treasury states that its aim is to ensure that the
“fuel poverty, energy and climate change goals”
are met
“in a way that is consistent with economic recovery and minimising the impact on consumer bills.”
I think all Members of the House would agree with that, but sadly it does not happen.
The National Audit Office says that the levy control board has
“focused on cost control and not the associated impacts on energy policy outcomes.”
It is looking at only one half of the equation. We need to look at the impact of the levies on consumers’ bills, whether it is as high as the energy companies say it is or not. However, we can see their worth only if we know what the impact is. The Department of Energy and Climate Change says that its energy and climate change policies will reduce bills by about 11% or £166 by 2020. How can we know if that is the case if we do not know what the impact of the policies will be? We need to be sure about the impact on people’s energy bills.
There are recommendations in the Select Committee’s report that would make the information on that clearer. For example, it recommends:
“Easily identifiable ‘costs per customer’ for each scheme on a consistent basis across years and between reports”.
Clear reporting on how levies are be raised and spent is particularly important because the levy control framework limit will increase from £3.184 billion in 2013-14 to £7.6 billion by 2020-21. Some 83% of people are worried about energy prices, so it is important to ensure that we do not contribute to the increase in prices.
Mr Weir
The hon. Gentleman is making a very good point. Is it not also important that it is made clear exactly what the impact of a levy is on individual bills? We are often told that green levies are pushing up bills, but the renewables obligation actually makes up a relatively small part of the average dual fuel bill.
John Robertson
The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. I have always felt that the amount of information that goes out to the ordinary person in the street when he opens his gas and electricity bill is either too complicated for him to understand or too simple and does not provide enough information. The Government have to ensure that people are educated. I am not talking only about the education of the general public, but about the education of the energy companies. They need to understand exactly what their job is in relation to customers. Yes, they are there to make money and to deliver electricity and gas, but they forget that they are dealing with real people—real people’s lives and jobs.
There has to be stronger control of the companies. If we are to take money through the levies, we need to ensure that it is spent properly and, to go back to the Treasury’s statement, that it is used to look after people in fuel poverty. We need to make it easier to show that the energy companies are trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
Mr Redwood
Does the hon. Gentleman not understand that the main reason that the bills are so high is the adoption of low-carbon technology? It is not the gross profits of the companies but the low-carbon technology that is pricing us out of markets and creating high bills for consumers.
John Robertson
The right hon. Gentleman and I have bandied a few comments between ourselves over the years. The simple answer is that I just do not agree with him. I think he is wrong. He should look at the big picture and not just at one side of the equation. There are always two sides to an equation, with an equals sign in the middle. Both sides have to be looked after, otherwise there is an unfair balance. That is what we have at the moment.
The levies make up £112 or 9% of a bill. However, bills have gone up by £300 in the past three years. Energy companies often blame the levies for the increase. An example of that is npower’s patronising propaganda in its “Energy Explained” document of January 2014, which blamed levies and even the public for the increase. Its chief executive, Paul Massara, said:
“The actual unit price of energy in the UK is one of the lowest in Europe—but bills are high because British houses waste so much energy.”
That comes from a company whose executives get a fortune in bonuses. They do all right from their company, but at the end of the day, vulnerable customers cannot afford to pay their bills, let alone install energy efficiency measures.
Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
My hon. Friend is making some good points. Is it not ironic that, despite what the Government say, the levy that faces the biggest reduction is the energy company obligation, which is designed to encourage energy efficiency? We all accept that it needs reform, but is it not tragic that it is the people who lose the most money through energy inefficiency who will lose out if the impact of the energy company obligation is reduced?
John Robertson
My hon. Friend makes a good point. I will go into that matter in more detail in a moment.
The energy companies always seem to cry wolf. I think that they have cried wolf once too often. We need to have ever more control over the companies. The Minister knows my opinion on splitting the energy companies into generation and retail companies. I believe that is the way forward. That would create more companies and just might create the competition that appears not to be there at the moment.
There is a contradiction in what the chief executive of npower has said, because the company is also calling for cuts to the levies that would help people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. The Government have allowed the energy companies to blame the levies for their own greed and manipulation of the market—I mean the greed of the companies, not of the Government. The Government are unwilling to stand up to the energy company barons. In my opinion, they serve them before our constituents. Instead of challenging the companies on their scare stories about the effect of green levies on bills, they announced that they would cut the energy company obligation and the warm home discount. How do they know what to cut if the levy control framework is not monitoring the policy impacts effectively?
The Government have cut ECO despite the chair of their Fuel Poverty Advisory Group saying:
“It is completely inequitable to attack the only measure that is doing something for the fuel poor in England.”
He said that the Government could face a judicial review if they go ahead with the cuts to ECO because of the statutory commitment to reduce fuel poverty.
The companies have held the Government to ransom over this decision. They have said that they will pass on a £50 cut to consumers and they are putting pressure on the Government by saying that they will raise prices in the months before the election if there is not a second stage to the cuts. Even after the cut to green levies, energy bills rose by an average of more than £60 this winter. It is fortunate that the winter has been so mild; otherwise we might be talking not just about prices, but about the number of people who have died of hypothermia. It is fortunate that temperatures have not been low this winter, and let us hope they do not fall in the short time remaining before the spring.
The problem is not levies, but the broken market. Policy costs are responsible for 15% of the rise since 2010. Every consumer group in this country that deals with energy has complained about the greed of energy companies, and the fact that they have ripped off customers. Energy company greed should be looked at extensively. The people at Ofgem are not bad, but they do not have the teeth to do the job they want to do. My hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) may argue that we should get rid of Ofgem. Unless we start to see more from it, perhaps he is right and we should get rid of it and put in its place something that really does the job of looking after not just companies, but the people who use the power they produce.
We need an energy price freeze, but why? Everyone says that that would be terrible, and that everything would fall apart and the energy companies would disappear. That will not happen, and the Minister knows that. There is too much money in this country for the energy companies to disappear. However, we must call a halt, look at what is happening, sit down and talk about what we want to change and why, and put together an energy system so that people can make money and provide energy, and customers can be assured that they are receiving value for money for taxpayers. An 18-month freeze on prices will allow the Government—I hope that they will be a new Labour Government—to sit down and work out what they want to do with their energy policy without worrying about whether they have to fight someone over an energy price rise. At the end of the 18 months, people will know exactly what is going to happen. That policy would be popular and right.
The Government are scrambling around trying to find something different to win support at the general election and if they come up with something better, I am sure those on our Front Bench will support it. However, at the moment, our offer is the best on the table for the general public. The Government are out of touch and it is time they got back in touch.
We are not here to fight the Government. In many ways, the Labour Government had almost exactly the same policies as those on the Front Bench today. We all agree on one thing: energy is important. The only thing we do not agree on is the priority. We prioritise the poor and the vulnerable, but the Government prioritise the companies.
Mr Weir
It is not my example; I refer the hon. Gentleman to the House of Commons Library note on this subject, which sets out clearly the various elements, as I do not have it with me today. Obviously, energy companies will make a profit, and part of the taxation on energy bills is 5% VAT. The point about the 8% and the 2% is that only 2% of the bill is directly relatable to the renewables obligation. The differences between the two are the social obligations—the insulation costs and the other costs for creating warmer homes and reducing future energy bills.
It will be interesting to see how these changes feed into energy costs. If, as is claimed, the major companies are operating a hedging strategy for gas that forces them to buy well in advance, there should be little immediate effect—I am referring to the current rise in prices because of what is happening in Crimea. But those who buy the bulk of their supplies on the spot market may well see an immediate impact. It will be interesting to see whether there is a turnaround in who has the higher energy prices as a result of that.
A further major element in bills is the network costs charged to energy suppliers, which, according to the note, make up 20% to 23% of the costs. I have spoken on that issue many times in this House, as well as on the unfairness of the costs, which discriminate against generators, particularly renewable energy generators in the north of Scotland compared with major generators in the south. The regulator, Ofgem, has been looking into this matter, in a seemingly endless investigation, Project TransmiT, which I understand has been put back yet again to a possible introduction in April of next year. There must be more action and a fairer system of transmission reduces the costs faced by renewable energy. That would have a positive impact on bills by reducing the cost to the consumer.
All that having been said, we do need to look at the balance between investment and the price paid by consumers. I support the idea that some of the costs that have been imposed upon consumers are taken off bills and put on general taxation, specifically those relating to providing energy efficiency and insulation measures. It is not often I agree with the Minister, but that was correct.
Mr Weir
The hon. Gentleman need not worry too much.
Under the green deal, many measures under the energy company obligation are left to the energy companies to set up and administer, but that is not working. I have raised concerns about aspects of the specific schemes, but the overriding fact is that there is now a complete lack of trust in the energy companies and having them approach people offering such schemes will not achieve the take-up we need. Suspicion alone will stop many people taking up what could be a good scheme. We should be made to examine how we deliver these things, because if we were to have a more focused scheme, we could do more, for example, in hard-to-heat homes in the areas mentioned by the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth, by making sure that these specific issues are tackled.
I have raised other issues relating to the ECO, one of which may interest the hon. Lady, who, like me has many constituents who are off the gas grid: many energy companies will not have replacement boilers for off-gas-grid appliances. I have written to all the major companies to press them on the issue. I have raised it at ministerial round-table meetings—I am sure that the Minister is fed up with hearing about it—and in the House, but the situation remains. We really need action on such areas. We were told by Ministers that the ECO was technology-neutral, but that is clearly not so for off-grid consumers.
The Government’s usual mantra of energy efficiency and switching simply does not wash with those who are struggling to pay their bills. The savings on offer would barely scratch the surface of the problem. All too often, energy companies seem to be carrying out a follow-my-lead strategy on price rises. If someone switches when their company raises prices, they may just be delaying their own price rise until the next company makes its move. It is not surprising that cynicism has taken hold among the general public. We must make it clear to our constituents that there is no silver bullet to solve the problem of energy prices. Yes, we need to look closely at how the energy companies operate, which the hon. Member for Glasgow North West has talked about on many occasions. In fact, that is one of the things on which we agree.
We need transparency in the system to see not only how the companies make their money but the inequalities. In the Energy Act 2013, the Government sought to take powers to implement the Prime Minister’s promise to put everyone on the lowest tariff, but, as I have said many times, the Act does not seem to have that effect. What it does is to require the energy companies to facilitate the switch, but the offer to do that may well not be obvious to many people who receive a mass of paper through their doors from the energy companies. There must be a much more proactive effort to put people on to the lowest tariff. It also seems that, under this scheme, it is only the lowest tariff operated within the type of contract the person already has. As I have said before, that is fine if someone is on a direct debit tariff, but if they are on a prepayment meter, for example, they will still be stuck on a higher tariff, and there is little being done to help those people.
If we are to explain clearly what the costs of energy are and to do what we can to reduce energy bills, we need to ensure that everyone is on the lowest possible bill. We need to get away from the fact that companies can claim that bills are the result of green levies or other levies, when clearly that is not the case.
I have spoken a great deal about prepayment meters before, and I will not do so again any great length again. However, I will just say that the citizens advice bureau in Scotland cites the case of a single parent with two children. The mother currently has to lose £7 to arrears every time she puts £10 in the meter. The £3 remaining is entirely insufficient to heat her home. Such things cannot be allowed to continue if we are serious about bringing the public on board. They must understand that we are serious about not only ensuring that the infrastructure is in place and that we move towards green energy, but about doing what we can to reduce energy bills.
I have also spoken before about the fact that some people who have prepayment meters or who are in arrears often do not have bank accounts. The banks are not interested in the low-income customers. Indeed many of them have moved out of areas such as the rural parts of my constituency.
The hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth mentioned off-grid customers, so I will give another plug for my favourite campaign for earlier winter fuel allowances for elderly people who are off the gas grid. I am pleased to see that the Labour party has now adopted that as policy. I have been campaigning for it for some time, and I am glad to have its support for that policy. It is interesting to note that both major parties have supported that at one time or another. Strangely enough, they have done so when they have been in opposition, not in government—call me a cynic, but there we go. We will wait and see.
All too often when we debate energy, we focus on electricity consumers. We must look at the whole system, and I am glad that we have the opportunity to do so today. I think that I have spoken for long enough, and I will end by saying that this is a good opportunity to make the point that we should not just look at green levies. There is a reason we have this ongoing system: to decarbonise our energy and ensure that bills stay low in future.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Michael Fallon)
We have had a good debate, and I thank the Energy and Climate Change Committee and the National Audit Office for their recent reports on the levy control framework. I have written today to the Chair of the Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (Mr Yeo), in response to some of the specific questions raised in the Committee’s letter sent last Tuesday. I hope that all members of the Committee have received a copy of that response.
Before turning to some of the major questions raised about the estimates, not least by the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex), let me address some of the specific points made in the debate. My hon. Friend the Chair of the Committee asked about the levy control framework and whether the list of technologies was exhaustive. We have set out all the technologies that we consider should be supported at the moment up to 2018-19, although of course we cannot bind our successor—if there is one—and I do not rule out extending that support. He will see that we have put a support price for wave technology, tidal power and so on. He also asked for more details of the capacity mechanism. We are consulting on the exact operation of the capacity market and the auction, and he will receive more details about that shortly.
My hon. Friend asked about the position of carbon capture and storage in the levy control framework. The capital costs of carbon capture and storage—the £1 billion that the Government are committing to the two projects for which we have signed initial feed contracts—are not in the levy control framework because they are, of course, taxpayer funded. However, the operating costs will be covered through the framework. Finally, he asked me to speculate on the future movement of gas prices. There, I am afraid I cannot help him with any particular update or assumptions, and neither do I think that I would best respond to the debate by doing so.
The hon. Member for Glasgow North West (John Robertson) made important points about energy efficiency, and I do not think there is too much difference between the two sides of the House about the importance of those measures. He went on to attack the performance—indeed, the existence—of the big six. I did not hear him admit, however, that the big six were a creation of the previous Government, who seem to have started with 14 retail companies and ended up with the big six. He would have been on stronger ground if he had acknowledged the failure of the previous Government to do anything about increased concentration in the sector.
My hon. Friend the Member for Southport (John Pugh) made important points about the returns enjoyed by energy companies and the ECO, but his most important point was about the fuel poverty target and how, when we get the new target rolling, we should monitor it properly, account for its performance, and be sure to explain to those—including all the voluntary organisations that worked with us on the construction of a better focused target—how we are meeting it.
The hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) made a number of points about the estimates, which I will come to when I reply to the meat of the debate. He drew the House’s attention to the important inter-relationship between the carbon floor price and the levy control framework. He is right to remind us that any changes made to the carbon floor price will, of course, have implications for the levy control framework.
My hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) referred to the strike prices for some of the newer technologies. I am glad that we were able to confirm those strike prices, which have been such a boost to renewable projects in her area. She went on to make some important points about our continuing work to improve the position of off-grid households. I certainly take her point that we perhaps ought to include some representation from Public Health England in our work. I will certainly reflect on that further, before I convene the next meeting of the ministerial round table in May.
The hon. Member for Angus (Mr Weir), in a lengthy speech, paid much attention to the extent of renewables support without confirming that more than a third of renewable support goes to Scotland, which has just 9% of the population. He would have been on stronger ground if he had referred to the extent of support that comes from outside Scotland; not just from England, but from taxpayers in Northern Ireland and in Wales, too. More than one third of all our support for renewables ends up in Scotland, which has just 9% of the population.
My hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) raised again the position of Eggborough. I do not think, because he champions the cause of Eggborough so well, that he fully appreciates that some 16 projects came forward under our intermediate regime. They all involve enormous taxpayer support, so it would not have been possible for taxpayers to support all 16 projects. We are taking nine projects forward on the basis—I have to correct him slightly—that all are ready to sign this month: all have finance in place this month. I am delighted to confirm that two are biomass conversions—Drax, right next door to him, and Lynemouth in Northumberland—so we are not neglecting the cause of biomass conversion. It is not right to say that a project not taken forward under the FID enabling process has, in the phrase I think was used the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, slipped off the list. We are not able to give taxpayer support to every single renewable project that came forward for the intermediate regime. Those not afforded under the regime will still, of course, have the option of applying under the existing renewables obligation or the forthcoming contract for difference.
The hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) raised one important point in particular on the Clifton scheme in her constituency, which, she suggested to the House—I have no reason to doubt her—is a victim of the changes taking place in the ECO arrangements. She alleged that she had not had a reply from the Secretary of State. If that is true, we will certainly investigate and make sure that that point is chased up. I will, of course, write to her on the particular issue facing her scheme in Clifton and see exactly what the situation is. It is not true to say, by the way, that all six of the big six cheered when the announcements were made on the extra two years for the ECO. Some of those who had already committed to the work were not at all pleased that their competitors were being given further time, but I will look into the specific points mentioned.
On the specifics of the debate, as the NAO has acknowledged, the levy control framework is a valuable tool in supporting control of the costs to consumers as we pursue our energy policy objectives. The framework helps to drive investment in our energy sector. It helps to create jobs and growth, and, of course, takes us to a leaner, more secure energy supply. However, I recognise that proper oversight of the framework is important. Those who pay the bills, our constituents, need to know that Parliament is looking out for their interests in scrutinising this expenditure.
Let us look first at why we need the levy control framework. We need to secure an energy future at a cost that we can afford, and that is a huge task. One fifth of our power stations will go off line in the next six or so years. By 2030, if nothing else changes, we shall be importing 70% of our gas. Eight of the nine existing nuclear stations are scheduled to have closed by the time Hinkley Point C opens. However, in the same framework, energy demand may have doubled by 2050. The generation mix will have to tip significantly towards low carbon if we are to meet our legally binding climate change targets.
We are working to reform our energy sector to unlock investment now, and to create a framework for the delivery of a secure energy future. Nearly £40 billion had already been invested in the electricity sector between the beginning of 2010 and the middle of last year. More than 16 GW of new capacity has been brought on to the system, including five new gas plants, and a sixth is under construction. Two huge offshore wind farms opened last year, and we are seeing a very healthy pipeline in key technologies, including four more large offshore wind projects which are under construction. We remain No.1 in the world for offshore wind, and it is the work of the Government and, indeed, the work of the House that has enabled that to happen.
The Energy Bill received Royal Assent last December. That significant milestone laid the groundwork for the delivery of electricity market reform and sent a strong message to investors and industry about the cross-party agreement on the fundamentals of energy policy and the framework that we are establishing. The levy control framework is a key part of that. It provides certainty for investors, helps to control the costs of energy, and helps to ensure that the Government are held to account.
Last Monday I co-chaired the Offshore Wind Industry Council, which consists of many chief executives from different companies that are investing in the United Kingdom. They told me that the stability provided by the levy control framework had been an important factor in their decision to continue to invest in the UK. That is one of the reasons why the figures from Bloomberg show that the average annual investment in renewables has more than doubled in the current Parliament, from £3 billion to nearly £7 billion.
The provision of low-cost, low-carbon energy, improved energy security and the tackling of fuel poverty are all outcomes that the levy control framework helps to deliver, but it is obviously important for the impact on bills to be scrutinised closely and carefully as we pursue those goals. My Department is acutely aware of the pressure that consumers are facing, which is why we took action to reduce bills by an average of £50. The Opposition have a different approach, and we may disagree on the merits of that approach, but I think that Members on both sides of the House can agree that the cost of energy matters deeply to our constituents. It is therefore important for us to have an informed debate about it.
Let me say something about the work that we are doing to increase transparency. In March last year my Department published the prices and bills report, which showed the impact that our policies have had on bills in a clear and transparent way. The annual energy statement sets out our priorities, and an assessment of our progress in meeting our ambitious targets. In addition, Ofgem reports regularly on the costs and impact of each of our existing schemes.
During this evening’s debate, we have heard much about the coverage of the levy control framework. I do not want the purpose of the framework to be misinterpreted. It is a formal part of the public expenditure control framework. We have controls for departmental expenditure and annual managed expenditure budgets, and we also need controls for levies. However, the public expenditure control framework does just that: it exists to control public expenditure. Policies such as the energy company obligation are regulations, not public expenditure, so not all policies are considered public expenditure. The ECO is regulatory in nature and so lies outside the existing departmental expenditure limits and annually managed expenditure budget frameworks, but the fact that some consumer-funded policies sit outside the levy control framework does not diminish the oversight they should, and do, receive. Parliament has debated and passed primary and secondary legislation for all our major policies. Impact assessments that support those debates set out the full economic rationale for the action we propose to take.
We also take steps to monitor the costs of these policies and put that information into the public domain. On the ECO, for example, we published an assessment of the costs of compliance. Our bills and prices report takes account of the costs and benefits of all significant consumer-funded policy, including transmission costs, the ECO and smart meters.
However, we are not able to include three of our levies—the renewables obligation, the feed-in tariffs and the warm home discount—in our annual accounts. To those who have asked why not, the answer is that the Comptroller and Auditor General rightly requires Departments to meet international financial reporting standards. For the renewables obligation, feed-in tariffs and the warm home discount, revenue does not flow through the Exchequer. Instead, industry collects the money directly from consumers and industry controls how those funds are used to meet the regulatory requirements. It follows therefore that the associated expenditure also cannot be included in my Department’s accounts and if it was, the head of the National Audit Office would be forced to quality it. The Government do not gain additional funds through these levies to spend at their discretion.
That is a fairly simplistic explanation of a technical accounting issue and I am sure hon. Members appreciate that the time available tonight does not permit me to go through the detail of international accountancy regulations.
I have asked my officials to work with Treasury officials and the NAO to try to overcome this issue to maintain a clear line of sight, but as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury set out in his letter to the Liaison Committee in November, we have not been able to find a way through this for the existing levy schemes. However, I can assure the House that revenue and expenditure for contracts for difference and for the capacity mechanism— a point raised earlier—will flow through public sector bodies, and they will therefore be included in my Department’s account and will form part of the estimate.
John Robertson
Does the Minister have any idea how much money we are talking about that is not being shown?
Michael Fallon
I think at this stage of the debate the hon. Gentleman will probably allow me to write to him about that as I do not have that figure at my fingertips. However, those are the three principal levies that are not included in the main estimates. As I have said, the revenue and expenditure for the CfDs and the capacity mechanism will be included in our account and will form part of the estimate.
So what we now need to do, working closely with Parliament, is find a satisfactory alternative for the existing schemes. The Committee’s report has provided a very useful contribution to this debate, and I am going to ask my officials to consider carefully the points that have been raised and I will also reflect the Committee’s points to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury when I next discuss this with him.
I also recognise the accountancy and constitutional challenges this issue presents. Notwithstanding these technical challenges, I would like to set out now my intentions for the future reporting of consumer-funded policies, which lie at the heart of the Select Committee’s concern. First, I can confirm that the Government will publish information on consumer-funded policies that covers actual expenditure and forecast expenditure, and that captures the progress we are making towards our policy ambitions. I agree that that information would benefit from a proportionate independent audit and from being formally presented to the House. It is my intention to publish this information annually. The Chief Secretary wrote to the Chairs of the relevant Committees on 5 November, suggesting that this information should be published no later than Ofgem’s report on the renewables obligation. That report is due in March next year, but we need to do better than that, which is why my officials will work with their counterparts in Her Majesty’s Treasury and the National Audit Office to bring that date forward.
I hope that has been helpful. As I have said, we have made some real progress in delivering the investment that this country needs in its new energy infrastructure. The levy control framework is an important part of that process, giving confidence and transparency to investors. But Parliament has an important role in scrutinising the Government of the day and their actions on behalf of our constituents, and I welcome that scrutiny. I hope that the improvements I have suggested to the House tonight will help Parliament in performing its role in doing exactly that.
Question deferred until tomorrow at Seven o’clock (Standing Order No. 54(4)).