asked the Chairman of Committees:

What steps are being taken to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of Members and staff of the House of Lords travelling on parliamentary business.

My Lords, the House participates with the House of Commons in a scheme to offset carbon emissions produced from parliamentary air travel booked through the Travel Office. Payments are made into the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, which funds projects to reduce emissions in the developing world. A high proportion of European Select Committee travel is undertaken by rail rather than air because many of the destinations, such as Brussels, are easily accessible by train.

My Lords, I thank the Lord Chairman for that excellent reply; it is good to know that the House is taking the issue seriously. He will be aware that CO₂ emissions for plane journeys to Glasgow amount to 95.4 kilograms, compared with 21.3 kilograms for train journeys. On journeys to Brussels and Paris, the advantage in favour of Eurostar is 10:1. Does he agree that the House could do rather more to encourage everyone to travel by means that are cost-effective and environmentally friendly? Is there some way in which Members of the House could have the carbon footprint of their journeys identified and pointed out to them?

My Lords, we are well aware of the advantages of rail travel, for journeys where that is appropriate, over air travel. However, I would hesitate to recommend to noble Lords who live in Scotland or Northern Ireland that they should take the train or the boat.

Hear, hear!

My Lords, I can see that I have hit the right note on that, which is always encouraging when I am answering a question. However, I agree with the noble Lord that we should do our best. In the last period, we spent £4,486 on the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund.

My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that one way of proceeding would be for a duty, as regards the nub of this Question, to be placed on every committee of this House when they meet in the autumn, and then for the House Committee to consider the reports of each committee so that we can decide how to proceed on this issue?

My Lords, when organising trips, the Committee Office’s policy is that they should be undertaken by the most environmentally friendly means. However, air is probably the only option for a Select Committee trip to Washington. If you are going to Brussels, Paris, or other destinations in Europe, train is not only the most environmental but the most convenient option. I assure the House that the Committee Office takes these matters into account.

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that statistics from Defra clearly show that if individual Members and staff gave up their motor cars and rode to the palace on horseback or in a bullock cart every day for work, the methane carbon footprint created would be equal to about 10,000 road miles of a Chelsea tractor? Does the Chairman of Committees therefore agree that, ultimately, the total carbon footprints created by the livestock and transport industries are about the same size? Should the Government penalise the farmer and the parliamentarian motorist at the same level of green taxation? Would we then not all be obliged to reduce our individual carbon footprint, following the inspirational lead of the right honourable gentleman the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by becoming a nation of vegetarian bicyclists?

My Lords, that is an extremely interesting question from the noble Lord, although I am disappointed by it because I had hoped that I would be able to give vent to my views on changing the clocks to European time. I am sure that the noble Lord made many interesting points, but I cannot answer them at this stage.

My Lords, can the Lord Chairman give the House some examples of the way that the parliamentary offset fund is being spent?

No, my Lords. It goes into the government scheme operated by Defra, but where the money goes, I would not know.

My Lords, can the Chairman of Committees confirm that for those of us who book our air tickets over the internet, it would be appropriate for Members to tick the carbon offsetting box when we do so?

My Lords, I would not dream of advising the House on whether to do that; that must be a matter for personal choice.

My Lords, does not the noble Lord agree that carbon footprints approaching your Lordships’ House are made considerably worse by the fact that so many roads are up and so many detours have to be taken, so one is standing for so long with engines running in traffic as a result? Does he agree that that does not help?

My Lords, I am sure that it does not help, but it is a matter for Westminster City Council rather than for me.

My Lords, will the Chairman of Committees express sympathy for all Members on the Bishops’ Bench who are at the Lambeth conference over the next two weeks, because of its carbon footprint?

My Lords, if that were all that I was expected to express sympathy for in the Lambeth conference, that would be easy to do, but I gather that it has other problems.