Great British Energy Bill

Lord Cromwell Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 15th January 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Roborough (Con)]

My Lords, Amendment 88, in the name of my noble friend Lady Noakes, would require more timely publication of GB Energy’s accounts, in line with public rather than private company reporting. I also support Amendment 89, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Vaux of Harrowden. On earlier groups I have addressed the limitations of private and public company reporting versus that of listed companies. I made that argument, given that taxpayers’ money, raised at great cost through tax increases impacting pensioners, farmers and all businesses in this country, is being invested. All this appears to have fallen on somewhat deaf ears with the Minister, who seems determined to avoid anything but the lowest level of scrutiny, transparency or accountability as to how GB Energy invests this, at least, £8.3 billion.

I also alluded to my comments in the debate on the King’s Gracious Speech and I remind the Committee of exactly what I said:

“it is private capital that has driven the rollout of renewables and infrastructure in our country, and it appears that Great British Energy will be targeting investments that private capital alone will not finance. That does not fill our Benches with confidence that these investments will necessarily be judicious. Please can the Minister assure the House that GB Energy will report on the performance of its investments regularly and in detail and that the Government will be held accountable in this House for the performance of those investments?”.—[Official Report, 18/7/24; col. 36.]

In response to this question, I received the following reply from the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock:

“The cost to the taxpayer of its set-up and investments will be carefully managed and monitored through Parliament, and investments will be subject to safeguards and risk assessments, similar to established public finance institutions”.—[Official Report, 18/7/24; col. 126.]


That answer may not have been the answer that I was looking for, nor the answer that I may be seeking today, which many amendments tabled to the Bill have also sought, but it does seem to offer at least some scrutiny through Parliament. It does not appear to me that the Minister here today is offering even that level of scrutiny in the Bill. His response in previous groups to amendments seeking this transparency and accountability has been:

“the existing reporting requirements are set out in the Bill, which makes provision for GBE to produce and publish an annual report and accounts”.—[Official Report, 13/1/25; col. 942.]

It is hard to disagree that the reporting requirements as determined by the Government are set out in the Bill. However, the point that these amendments, and many others already debated, make is that this is simply not adequate. One set of accounts published annually up to nine months after the year end, with the potential for minimal levels of detailed reporting, is effectively writing GB Energy a blank cheque, with next to no external oversight.

As other noble Lords have suggested to the Minister, if the Government were willing to table amendments to allow for greater scrutiny in a timely manner of the financial performance of investments, and the progress in achieving the overall objectives of increasing employment, reducing household electricity bills and reducing carbon emissions, I am sure that the Committee could be satisfied, without taking so much time making similar points. On previous groups the Minister has called this filibustering. That is an unfair characterisation, at least of the groups that I have taken part in. The Government have proven deaf to the Committee’s reasonable requests, but that will not make them go away.

I am particularly taken by Amendment 89 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, and not in the least surprised to see that it has so many supporters. It avoids amendments to Clause 6, which the Minister has pointed out is the wrong place in the Bill for such amendments, and to which my noble friend Lady Noakes has given authoritative support, but it addresses key reporting requirements around the receipt of subsidies, reporting on individual investments, achievement of objectives and strategic priorities, and impacts on the wider financial ecosystem. For these reasons, I believe it is an excellent amendment. However, it may still be lacking by relying on the relatively lax Companies House requirements for limited companies, so I also support Amendment 88 in the name of my noble friend Lady Noakes to make reporting in line with that for public companies.

As I have argued in previous groups, in support of my noble friend Lord Petitgas, who is in his place, there is a strong argument that quarterly reporting should also be required, in line with the listing requirements for publicly traded companies. As I have pointed out, if companies worth less than £100 million can comply with this, I do not believe it is a challenge for the £8.3 billion-plus GB Energy. This would also impose more disciplined reporting on GB Energy’s investees.

Why is it that the Government are so resistant to GB Energy showing proper transparency and accountability, even less than the modest commitments that I read in my response to the King’s Speech? What do the Government fear, if they are so convinced that it is worth while taking so much taxpayers’ money and investing it in energy, which in theory will be a good financial deal for the taxpayer? Last year’s business-unfriendly Budget, despite the protestations that it was pro-business and pro-growth, fills us all with concern that this Government do not understand business.

[Lord Cromwell (CB)]

My Lords, I am not sure what the opposite of a filibuster is, but I am going to try. I add my support to Amendments 88 and 92. They are both simple, timely, consistent and robust: elements of good housekeeping, quite frankly.

I also add my support to Amendment 89. We need to draw lessons from the experience with the water industry, whose reporting was opaque. It simply was not transparent enough on key areas of its financial structuring. This amendment would tease out the things that people need to know—people who are not forensic accountants going through the balance sheets reported by companies. Therefore, I thoroughly endorse Amendment 89.

[Lord Petitgas (Con)]

My Lords, I too would like to voice my support for Amendments 88 and 89. I will be brief. The timing and regularity of this reporting seems to be normal, standard housekeeping. It is not onerous, and it is legitimate. On the substance, as I said on the previous day in Committee, this is not an operating company which would report, like Ørsted or others; this is a portfolio of investments. It would be a number of minority investments; this company will not be operating assets. The Member opposite seems to be sceptical, but it will be a collection of small investments. Therefore, it will be more complex to track, and it will be important that it is clearly stated in the accounts. Amendment 89 states that.