Energy: Draft Energy Bill

Lord Hughes of Woodside Excerpts

Wednesday 14th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

I thank my noble friend for bringing the House back to the Question. Of course, I agree wholeheartedly that we need to consider seriously how we reduce electricity demand and that this should complement our work on electricity market reform. I paid tribute to my noble friend Lord Lawson and the work of the committee of which he was a member. We are consulting on potential policy approaches to reducing electricity demand. That must be one of the options open to us, and I am sure that the noble Lord will be part of that consultation.

[Lord Hughes of Woodside]

My Lords, I understand and sympathise with the Minister for having to appear at the Dispatch Box and answer for government policy. However, the fact is, she does have to answer for government policy. Will she therefore answer the Question? This is very serious: what is the Government’s policy on onshore wind farms?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, as I have stated at this Dispatch Box before, wind farms are part of our energy mix. They need to be part of our renewables energy mix and we continue on that path.