asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What will be the impact of the Climate Change Bill on the provisions affecting the building of power stations in the Planning Bill and the Energy Bill.

My Lords, the Climate Change Bill, together with the provisions of the energy and planning Bills, will give the United Kingdom a coherent legislative framework to ensure that policy is designed from the very outset to deliver our principal objectives; namely, to tackle climate change, to guarantee secure and affordable energy supplies and to ensure sustainable development.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his Answer. Will he explain why local authorities are required to consider climate change in relation to local developments, whereas there is no similar statutory obligation for the infrastructure planning commission to consider climate change when determining major infrastructure, especially nuclear power stations?

My Lords, I am in some difficulty. The Climate Change Bill has left this place; it has gone to the other place but has not yet started its journey. The other two Bills referred to have completed their Committee stage in the House of Commons; they await their Report stage. I am in no position to comment on the detail. They could be changed, and I have no doubt that the other two Bills will be bettered when they get to this place. But the fact is that the three Bills will be taken together. When the infrastructure planning commission is set up by the Planning Bill to deal with the large infrastructure and energy projects, particularly onshore generation of more than 50 megawatts and offshore generation of more than 100 megawatts, those projects will have to come under that commission, which will operate independently. It will have to take account of both climate change and sustainable development principles.

My Lords, how does the Minister square the decision to construct a coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth, with no carbon capture or sequestration, with the time that this House has spent on the Climate Change Bill?

My Lords, I am in the very happy position that I do not have to, because the application for that power station has been put on hold and deferred.

My Lords, is not the issue around the Climate Change Bill and power stations one of carbon capture and storage, as the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, suggested? In the UK, we have one minor-scale competition project for carbon capture and storage in an economy where we have the natural resources in the form of the North Sea, which is naturally ripe for carbon capture and storage. Will we not lose our leadership in this area, as we did in renewable energy, to the rest of the world, particularly to Australia and Canada?

Clauses in the Energy Bill, which is in the other place, set out the regulatory framework for carbon dioxide storage. All these issues—both the mechanics in the Energy Bill and the concept of and structure for regulation in the Planning Bill—can be fully debated in your Lordships' House, hour after hour and day after day, with the knowledge of what we have already done on the Climate Change Bill. It will not be too far away.

My Lords, does the Minister recognise how agreeable it is for an opposition party to hear a Minister say that he has no idea what changes will be made to three programmed Bills?

My Lords, elected Members of the House of Commons will scrutinise the Planning Bill and the Energy Bill on Report, so who can say what the outcome will be when they come to this place? No one can. When both Bills come here, they will be scrutinised in line with our normal, high-quality scrutiny procedures.

My Lords, will the Minister support all new power stations being made ready for carbon storage under the Energy Bill? Deferrals of applications should be made not just for coal-fired power stations, because we burn fossil fuels also out of gas. Every new gas power station should also have carbon storage and capture by law.

My Lords, I was warned that I might be asked that question, but, because of the deferral of that application, I was told that it made good sense not to make any comment. There is nothing on the agenda. There could be legal ramifications. That planning application is now deferred and on hold, so the issue does not arise.