Speeches by Hobhouse.

“Research conducted by the University of Bath has uncovered that one in six vapes confiscated in schools contained the synthetic drug Spice. Using a device developed at the university—the world’s first portable device that instantly detects synthetic drugs—Professor Chris Pudney conducted tests in 38 schools in London, …”

“May I also wish the Leader of the House a very happy birthday? Fifty is definitely the new 30 in her case. An investigation by researchers at the University of Bath has revealed that schoolchildren in England are unknowingly smoking vapes spiked with the synthetic drug Spice, which is highly addictive. Tests on just un…”

“Road safety is one of the main reasons why young people do not cycle, and that is particularly true in cities such as Bath, where the historic infrastructure makes it difficult. What will the Government do to help young cyclists in particular by making roads safer in Bath?”

“I thank the Minister for giving way. The second part of his reply answered what I am worried about, and what we as a Committee have been worried about all along, which is parliamentary scrutiny. Will the Minister advise at what point that parliamentary scrutiny can be exercised?”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“The hon. Gentleman is being generous in giving way. Would that not be a clear state intervention in the market?”

“An additional problem is that small community energy projects cannot provide directly—cannot sell directly—to the consumer. That is one of the major problems. Therefore, the Government should really put their mind to it and accept our amendment, so that we can assure our communities that the Government are really serio…”

“The hon. Gentleman is a new Member of Parliament; I have been here a little longer. Those of us who have been here longer always want to ensure that something is in statute—in law—because we parliamentarians are always a little wary of leaving it to a further document that may or may not come. We would like to see some…”

“Will the Minister confirm that he said that we might cross-reference the five functions in the Bill? In that way, people will be clear, for example, that community energy is cross-referenced in the Bill as one of the five functions. Did he say that earlier?”

“I have an honest question. Since energy is sold in a daily, 10-minute or whatever market, and that market operates, how can the Government ensure that the market behaves in the way they want it to behave? Is that question useful? I want to understand what the hon. Gentleman’s amendment will actually do to guarantee the…”

“Q We have been round the houses several times today. We need to see whether we can add anything to the Bill, whether something is missing from it or whether a lot of this will become clearer once the Secretary of State prepares a statement of strategic priorities or we understand the governance structures—all that. You…”

“Q Good morning, Mr Maier. It is very good to see you here. I have some questions about the overall aims that the Bill and the company are trying to achieve. You have just said that it will be an enabler, so we have to imagine it as something that will happen before any contracts for difference are attributed. It is an …”

“Local authorities play an important role as trusted sources of knowledge and expertise, and guide householders, for example, to trusted installers, but they need the resources to do that. Will the Department devolve some resources to local authorities to fulfil that important role?”

“Q Thank you for answering our questions. In the morning sitting we struggled with the fact that although we all hope the Bill will do something, it has relatively little detail. We have already discussed the merits of not having too much detail, because then GB Energy would be hampered, and of having more detail. We ha…”

“Q We had a line of questioning around research and development. Do you think it is important that the Bill is future-proofed in that way—that GB Energy really focuses on those markets and those projects where the private investors would not come in behind? Is there any way in which the Bill could strengthen that? Resea…”

“So the Bill is sufficient in protecting communities? Shaun Spiers: I would like to see a nature recovery duty in the Bill.”

“Q I want to come back to what Shaun said a little earlier about the slight risk of the great power that the Secretary of State has. Do you think that there should be some protection in the Bill for communities, so that they can have a say? We also know that quite a lot of the delivery of our new transition infrastructu…”

“Q Good morning. I want to come back to clause 5 of the Bill, which is about the statement of strategic priorities. Most of what I have heard this morning is that we are a bit worried about there not being enough detail on certain things. Should there be more detail about the strategic priorities in the Bill, such as jo…”

“Q I have one last question about the timeframes, which are very vague. The Bill states: “The Secretary of State must prepare a statement of strategic priorities for Great British Energy.” Do you have any idea of when we can expect that statement to be laid before Parliament? Juergen Maier: I am not sure of the exact ti…”

“Q Does the Bill give us enough clarity? How will other financial institutions, such as the UK Infrastructure Bank or the British Business Bank, support what GB Energy is trying to do? The Bill is very short, so I wonder whether there is enough scope within it to explain that to investors. Juergen Maier: There will be t…”