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905 National Policy Statements 1 DECEMBER 2010 National Policy Statements 906<br />
Christopher Pincher: I am grateful to my hon. Friend<br />
for being so generous. May I take him back to his earlier<br />
remarks about energy security and how the national<br />
policy statements will feed into our energy security?<br />
Energy security not only relates to the Department of<br />
Energy and Climate Change, but has an impact on the<br />
Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and Commonwealth<br />
Office, the Department for International Development<br />
and the Department for Transport. How do the threads<br />
in our national policy statements interweave to ensure<br />
that across all those Departments we have a holistic<br />
approach to energy security?<br />
Charles Hendry: One thing that has struck and impressed<br />
me most as an incoming Minister has been the extent to<br />
which Departments work constructively together, with<br />
information shared appropriately and buy-in from every<br />
Department on policy proposals. My Department clearly<br />
leads on the energy market and the Treasury is critically<br />
involved in setting a carbon price, which we believe is<br />
part of the process, but t<strong>here</strong> is a holistic approach and<br />
investors are looking at that to make sure that t<strong>here</strong> is<br />
joined-up government.<br />
I want to close, so perhaps I can respond in my<br />
winding-up speech to any additional points about the<br />
exact way in which we will take the process forward.<br />
Having spoken for the best part of an hour, I feel that<br />
many hon. Members on both sides of the House will<br />
wish to have a chance to contribute fully to the debate.<br />
In conclusion, our reforms of the major infrastructure<br />
planning process will ensure much greater democratic<br />
accountability. Ministers will be responsible for decisions<br />
to consent to or refuse major infrastructure development,<br />
and t<strong>here</strong> will be a binding vote in the House on<br />
whether to approve national policy statements. Our<br />
debate today is about whether the House has considered<br />
the matter of the draft energy national policy statements,<br />
and I look forward to listening to it and having the<br />
chance to hear the expertise that so many hon. Members<br />
have to offer.<br />
Several hon. Members rose—<br />
Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans): Order. As the<br />
Minister says, a number of Members will be trying to<br />
catch my eye during this debate. T<strong>here</strong>fore, I am introducing<br />
a seven-minute limit on speeches.<br />
5.31 pm<br />
Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab): Thank you,<br />
Mr Deputy Speaker. I have indicated to you through the<br />
usual channels that, if it is your wish, I am more than<br />
happy to forgo any concluding remarks so that more<br />
people have time to make their contributions.<br />
I welcome this general debate about national policy<br />
statements, which is timely and necessary. I thank the<br />
Energy and Climate Change Committee for its continuing<br />
effort and expertise and, of course, the Committee on<br />
Climate Change for its recommendations and analysis.<br />
We share much of the Minister’s analysis of the challenges,<br />
but that is not surprising because, as I say with some<br />
humility, my predecessors laid the groundwork that he<br />
is continuing. We are glad to see him and his colleagues<br />
taking up the baton with such relish, because they do so<br />
at a critical juncture, when delay and dithering would be<br />
terminal to investor certainty, UK energy security and<br />
our low-carbon future. T<strong>here</strong> is a real need to get on<br />
with that work.<br />
On that thought, the shadow Front-Bench team and<br />
I—and I am sure the whole House—send our best<br />
wishes to the Secretary of State and his team on their<br />
negotiations in Cancun. In government, Labour adopted<br />
the world’s first legally binding framework to cut emissions,<br />
by 80% by 2050, signalling our clear intent and leadership<br />
on tackling climate change. My right hon. Friend the<br />
Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) played<br />
a difficult hand with some great skill and not insignificant<br />
personal commitment at Copenhagen when he was<br />
Secretary of State, and although the job has not become<br />
any easier, we hope that the new Secretary of State will<br />
keep the momentum going.<br />
Let us reprise w<strong>here</strong> we are, as laid out in the documents<br />
before us. One quarter of the UK’s generating capacity<br />
will close by 2018, and as much as 30% will need to be<br />
replaced by 2020. Without prompt action we face an<br />
electricity generation gap in the next 10 to 15 years as<br />
our nuclear and coal-powered stations are retired. World<br />
energy demand is rising and often highly politicised; as<br />
North sea reserves decline, we are increasingly reliant<br />
on imported oil and gas; and, as the Minister says,<br />
electricity demand is forecast to double over the next<br />
40 years. That will require rapid decarbonisation of the<br />
electricity sector, diversification of the energy sector<br />
with a decreasing reliance on fossil fuels and unabated<br />
combustion, and an increasing reliance on renewables,<br />
low-carbon energy and decentralised energy.<br />
We will also require development of carbon capture<br />
and storage and renewables technology for the UK and<br />
for international markets. We will need to create sufficient<br />
capacity to meet electricity generation needs at all times,<br />
and we will need to put the necessary supply chains in<br />
place. I will not go over the issue of Sheffield Forgemasters<br />
again, as it has been well aired already. We will require<br />
the development of smart grid and electricity networks<br />
to meet the needs of a reconfigured, smart and diverse<br />
electricity infrastructure and, of course, investment in<br />
gas infrastructure.<br />
Ian Lavery: The doubling of the electricity recovery<br />
rate over the next 40 years is vital. As was mentioned,<br />
the first phase of the four demonstration plants will<br />
cost up to £1 billion. Does my hon. Friend agree that it<br />
is essential that funding is found from somew<strong>here</strong> to<br />
fund phases 2, 3 and 4 if we are to meet our electricity<br />
requirements over that period?<br />
Huw Irranca-Davies: Yes, I agree entirely. It was<br />
wonderful news that after a slight delay to do with the<br />
coalition agreement, getting things in order, and some<br />
wrangling with the Treasury, we had the announcement<br />
that £1 billion would be available—the commitment<br />
that the Labour Government had made to the first<br />
phase of CCS on a commercial scale. However, it is<br />
equally essential that we have phases 2, 3 and 4. I am<br />
sure that the Minister is committed to continuing that<br />
wrangling with the Treasury to ensure that we find the<br />
mechanisms that will allow that to happen, and promptly.<br />
We need it for coal, but we also need it for gas. I<br />
welcome the in-principle announcements that have been<br />
made about phases 2, 3 and 4, but what we are waiting<br />
for, as with so much else, is the detail to make it certain.