Global Green Growth Institute (Legal Capacities) Order 2013

Debate between Lord Teverson and Baroness Northover

Wednesday 6th March 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, the draft Global Green Growth Institute (Legal Capacities) Order 2013 was laid before the House on 29 January.

There has been no poverty reduction at scale without strong and sustained economic growth. The sustainability of current growth models is, however, a serious concern. Although economic growth relies on environmental resources, at the same time it drives their depletion. Green growth seeks to promote actions that simultaneously improve both growth and the environment.

The Global Green Growth Institute was established in 2010 to advance the practice and theory of green growth. It hopes to work with a critical mass of countries to explore the potential of green growth and, through demonstrating its potential, to act as a transformational catalyst for change. The institute’s focus is on helping to prepare economic development strategies in countries that have expressed interest, and then helping to ensure that there is appropriate capacity and means to implement these strategies. The UK has been a keen supporter of the Global Green Growth Institute, acting as a founding member with the Deputy Prime Minister representing the UK at the agreement of its establishment in Rio in 2012.

The International Organisations Act allows us to grant international organisations legal capacity by making an Order in Council. This will enable the institute to attain formal status in UK law and so enable it to operate effectively here. Her Majesty’s Government fully support all these changes. We firmly believe that the Global Green Growth Institute may help to create a new model of environmentally sustainable economic growth. I commend the order to the Committee.

[Lord Teverson]

I shall just rise to congratulate the Minister on her excellent exposition of the connection between green growth and economic growth, for the good not just of the planet but of this nation. I hope that she will spread this message well and truly throughout the land, particularly towards 11 Downing Street, and reinforce that message as much as possible. I congratulate her and I fully support the Government in their support for this very important institute and its future work. We will see how well it does over the years.

European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Second Agreement amending the Cotonou Agreement) Order 2011

Debate between Lord Teverson and Baroness Northover

Monday 17th October 2011 Grand Committee

[Lord Triesman]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing the order. I should say at the outset that we support it. The changes and the coherence to be added are welcome; trade arrangements will improve; all of that is positive territory.

The Cotonou agreement as a whole has proved, as it was always intended to, an essential framework, fostering development, co-operation, economic and trade integration and security of political institutions in the ACP countries. It makes complete sense for the EU to have embarked on this course, not only because of our long-term economic and political interests in the ACP countries but also because it reflects the colonial past, the legacy of that past and the obligations that we plainly face in dealing with it.

It is encouraging that when the predecessors of the EU in the European Coal and Steel Community forged those institutions in 1951, many of them were still colonial powers in the very countries in which these arrangements are now in place as a result of the Cotonou agreement. That is positive in many ways.

The continued mutual obligations plainly mean that we continue to have a shared EU-ACP interest in co-operation. In many respects, this has matured from simple co-operation into interdependency. Those interdependencies are created for pragmatic, economic and moral considerations. It is encouraging to be able to talk about the work of the EU in such a positive way; we do not always seem to do that in our House; so I am a little encouraged to have had the opportunity to look at that without people snarling about it.

The renewal of Cotonou comes at a critical juncture. Last year, the World Bank estimated that 64 million people had been pushed into extreme poverty by the financial crisis. Of course, most of those were in countries in the developing world. Noble Lords have already mentioned the impact of climate change and famine, which have had an amplified effect because of the financial challenges in the international community, especially in those countries where we are still slipping backwards on the millennium development goals. Those tasks demand a multifaceted response, and that is what the Cotonou agreement and the changes and revisions now help us to produce.

There is a good deal of independent research in Australian universities and universities across Europe that demonstrates that it is the interpenetration of democracy and institution-building with economic progress which gives economic progress the greatest prospect of success. Much of that research also shows that in those countries where you do not have those institutional and democratic opportunities, economic development is tried to the greatest extent.

It is not a perfect agreement. The point has already been made that, even with the new language on non-discriminatory practices, one area has still not been resolved in any way that I think we would regard as satisfactory in Europe. The democratic, economic and civil rights that have been extended in so many ways seem still to exclude those who are in same-sex relationships. That is a great pity. I know that people in the EU have attempted to see these issues raised in the European Parliament and elsewhere but have not perhaps made the progress with the countries on the other side of the agreement that they would have wished for. I just hope that we will not say, “Well, we are where we are”, but take every opportunity that we have in all the revisions that still lie ahead over the 20 years that the agreement will be in place to see whether greater progress can be made.

The Cotonou agreement has carried forward the EU’s 1992 human rights and democratisation policy. We supported it at that time; we have supported it on all occasions since, from its inauguration through its revisions; and we support it today.

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for the all points that have been raised and for the general welcome for this move forward. The noble Lord, Lord Teverson, is quite right that the agreement came about as a result of countries moving into the EU wanting to make sure that what had been part of their former empire was not disadvantaged. So it is a historic agreement looking after those countries and does not necessarily make best sense as we move forward. Looking at the current revisions to the Cotonou agreement, one is struck by the fact that it is moving towards looking at the regional dimension that may be more relevant for some ACP countries in the future. In the mean time, it is extremely important that those countries have access to the EU markets, which has benefited them enormously.

A number of points have been raised in the debate, and I welcome the Committee’s continued interest in the EU’s relationship with ACP countries and the Cotonou agreement. Europe is playing a major role in supporting developing countries, particularly in Africa, to meet the many challenges that they face. The second amendment to the Cotonou agreement is an important development in this regard.

Europe is not only a significant provider of development assistance but also an important global actor. The impact on poor countries of its policies in areas such as trade and the environment can be significant. We will continue to work with the Commission and other EU member states to call for further improvements in the effectiveness, results focus and transparency of EU aid, including the EDF.

The noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, is absolutely right that regional co-operation will be extremely important. It is excellent to see the emphasis being put on the African Union and its further development. He noted the fragility of some of these states; others are less fragile. Therefore, we agree that the emphasis on good governance is extremely important.

The noble Lords, Lord Chidgey and Lord Triesman, asked about discrimination. As we know, discrimination over sexual preferences remains a serious problem in many African states—there have been various pointers towards that recently. In effect, noble Lords are asking why we do not insist on the inclusion of a clause on non-discrimination. Article 8 clearly gives the EU a mandate to raise issues of discrimination of any kind in ACP countries, and the ability to have a dialogue to make progress on all issues of discrimination. It is a very important factor. The Cotonou revision gives the EU that mandate, but we realise that that is not, perhaps, as far as some might wish to go. However, this is a collective agreement, and at least it has that mandate in it. I expect we will find that that is taken further forward in the future.

My noble friend Lord Chidgey mentioned climate change, and its significance. We welcome the stronger statement on the global challenge of climate change in the agreement. The references give the EDF a clearer mandate to spend on these priorities. It is clearly recognised now that the mitigation of climate change—ensuring that we are not making things even worse, because it hits the poorest hardest and first—is extremely important to factor in when we look at development policy. The agreement acknowledges that that has to be integrated with development strategies.

My noble friend Lord Chidgey also emphasised the importance of civil society organisations, as well as governance. The EU certainly attaches great importance to the role of civil society organisations, and provides significant support to help them engage effectively on issues such as governance, democracy and human rights, across the ACP.

Looking at taxation, the importance of domestic revenue management is rightly something people are very concerned about. Many DfID country offices work with partner governments to strengthen tax policy and tax administration. That is certainly seen as important. For example, TradeMark East Africa, funded by DfID, has helped the newly established Burundi Revenue Authority to increase the country’s tax income by 30 per cent—which I am sure would be welcome in this country—from the first quarter of 2010 to the same period in 2011.

Then there is the question about Busan and whether parliamentarians will be present at the conference on aid effectiveness. I know that my noble friend Lord Chidgey is attending.

[Lord Teverson]

My noble friend Lord Chidgey is actually going to Busan as a parliamentarian, and I was delighted to hear that.

[Baroness Northover]

I know that he is going, and am extremely pleased. There will be other parliamentarians present, and I understand that the Secretary of State for International Development will be there.

Energy Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Teverson and Baroness Northover

Wednesday 2nd March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their contributions to this debate, and particularly the Opposition Front Bench for their welcome of the government amendments. The Government believe that the approach of my noble friend Lord Teverson could be permitted under these amendments, though I recognise that an ombudsman is not specifically mentioned. There has been quite a debate about how specific you should be, and on the pluses and minuses of that within this, which is a tension within the Bill as a whole. How do you ensure that you have got customer protection and standards, and how do you make sure that does not then become too prescriptive and restrictive? As the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, mentioned, there has been wide consultation with many of those who operate in this area, and I can assure him that, in terms of addressing these areas, the Government will continue to do that. Their experience of the problems that have arisen in the past will be very useful in terms of feeding in to ensure that the work taken forward addresses those kinds of problems.

The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, mentioned carbon monoxide monitors, and primary and secondary products like this do come under what we are discussing here. She recognises that my noble friend Lord Marland gave a very sympathetic hearing to the very important point that she made at an earlier stage. Again, that is something that comes within this.

The noble Lord, Lord Deben, is right about the difficulties of having a specific list and the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, also referred to that. It is extremely important that the Bill is not out of date by the time it is finally concluded in the other place. We have to be extremely careful about lists. There is a balance between trying to ensure that what happens is not too specific and that we have a high standard, but that we are stimulating innovation and not stifling it, as noble Lords said.

In the light of those assurances about what we seek to do, I trust that noble Lords will accept the government amendments. Although we fully understand where the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, is coming from with regard to the ombudsman, we hope that at this stage he will be willing to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply and I will withdraw the amendment. I say that to save the tension and stress of the House, which is never good at this time of year. However, I genuinely feel that something should appear in the Bill, whether it is the oversight body or the ombudsman, ombudsperson or whatever it would be these days. I ask my noble friend to think further about that as we reach Third Reading or as the Bill moves to the other place, as this is an important area for confidence and dispute resolution within the way that the Bill works. At this point, however, I am happy to withdraw the amendment.

Energy Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Teverson and Baroness Northover

Monday 31st January 2011 Grand Committee

[Lord Teverson]

I like this part of the Bill. Good questions have come from the noble Baroness, which we would not have dealt with in Committee otherwise. First, as the Minister says, these provisions give the opportunity for small oilfields to be exploited when the infrastructure and investment in that would not otherwise allow that at all. Secondly, to pick up the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan—although he is not in his place—it must make it possible for smaller, independent oil companies to exploit those opportunities, which would not otherwise be there if there was no sharing. The pipelines that are already there are in a certain way a ransom strip. They are a monopoly of a facility that has been invested in, rightly, by those organisations, but they give undue leverage to those organisations. Also, the fact that this legislation is here means that commercial deals will almost certainly be done, whereas they might not be if it was not here. So this is a good clause in the Bill.

[Baroness Northover]

I welcome what my noble friend Lord Teverson has said. I note several things in relation to what the noble Baroness said. I point out that the briefing, which I hope she received all of, says that, while there are understandable differences of view—infrastructure owners are wary of change, but potential users are often strongly in favour—the industry is broadly speaking supportive of the case for change. On the point of whether the Government should be involved in something like this or whether it should simply be left to commercial negotiations, EU law requires the provision of a dispute resolution procedure for access to upstream gas pipelines.

My noble friend Lord Teverson pointed out that we have a responsibility as the UK Government to ensure that these resources are accessible. The fact that they are, as I have mentioned, in smaller pockets and may need that kind of sharing of infrastructure makes it even more important now that this is addressed. That is why that is being done: it is in the national interest that it is done and not simply left to market forces to resolve in these circumstances. On that basis, I hope the noble Baroness will feel that I have adequately addressed the issues that she has raised. If she remains concerned, we can have further discussions. In the mean time, I hope she is happy for this clause to stand part of the Bill.

Energy Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Teverson and Baroness Northover

Monday 24th January 2011 Grand Committee

[Baroness Northover]

I understand what the noble Baroness is saying. These are all areas which the department is looking at. However, I point out that the Bill already ensures that sitting tenants must give their express consent before a Green Deal can be taken out, so if a tenant feels that it is to their detriment, they have the right to refuse. Similarly, landlords must make clear to new tenants if a Green Deal is attached to a rental property before they sign a contract.

Given that these consumer safeguards are already in place, and bearing in mind what the noble Baroness is saying, I hope that at this stage she feels able to withdraw her amendment.

[Lord Teverson]

I ask the Minister what happens when we have a change of tenancy and the golden rule is met by the first tenant whose energy use is quite high, so it works, but the new tenant is a lower energy user. They may be a smaller family or a smaller household or have a different preference as to how they spend their money. The golden rule that was met by the first tenant might not be met by the second and yet, because there is such a competition for rented accommodation, you will possibly get a position where the incoming tenant, although warned, will just say yes anyway.

I wonder if the Minister could remind us—or me—if there is an opportunity for the Green Deal to be renegotiated at that point or does the higher electricity rate stay the same all the way through? This may be important in terms of this change and whether subsequent families could be put into energy poverty.

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[Lord Teverson]

I apologise for having asked the Minister a not particularly helpful question earlier. I want only to make a brief point that relates to this issue, and I should declare that I am a member of a local authority. I welcome the fact that local authorities are being brought back into the frame as well as the recognition that there will be implications at a time of financial stringency but, as the noble Baroness has said, local authorities will want to become involved in this area, and it is really important that they are. However, there is a slight irony here in that I am concerned that sometimes local authorities are unable to control building regulations sufficiently to minimise the amount of work that has to be done on these sorts of deals. If buildings are constructed to the specifications set out in the building regulations when they are first built, the problems might not be as great as they are now. The enforcement of building regulations and standards of insulation is a lesson because where in the past money has been saved in these areas, that has not had a good effect in terms of housing and energy performance standards for the future. I make the point, but it is not necessarily completely relevant to this amendment.

[Baroness Northover]

I thank the noble Baroness for her straightforward amendment and acknowledge her concern about the funding of any additional burdens on local authorities. I can assure noble Lords that should we require local authorities to carry out any new duties, we will make a full assessment of the costs of such actions and how they might be appropriately funded. We are already committed to ensuring that new burdens on local authorities are properly funded to avoid pressure on council tax. With this explanation and assurance, I hope that the noble Baroness will be content to withdraw her amendment.

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[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, I admit that I do not understand this amendment. I do not understand what it does. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, for his explanation, but I do not see how it relates to multiple tenancies. I apologise and will leave it at that.

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, I am very grateful to noble Lords for their amendments to Clause 39. Amendment 20AAA would give local authorities the power to carry out improvement works if the landlord defaults, and to recover all reasonable costs for undertaking work. We are not convinced that it is appropriate to grant such powers. Local authorities already have the power under the Housing Act 2004 to carry out works and recover costs in cases where there is an immediate and serious threat to health and safety. We are not convinced that any further power is appropriate or proportionate.

I will address the point about a tenant dissenting. Sitting tenants will not be forced to take on a Green Deal, and secondary legislation will set out how this affects landlords' obligations under any PRS regulations. I hope that the noble Lord will be happy to withdraw the amendment.

Energy Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Teverson and Baroness Northover

Wednesday 19th January 2011 Grand Committee

[Baroness Northover]

As the noble Lord will have noted, obviously there are economies of scale when local authorities are dealing with this. Therefore, there is the incentive in that of being able to provide for local residents a better deal if they access these funds and we expect that they would see this as the route to go down. All these areas will, of course, be looked at carefully to try to ensure that the Green Deal is as effective as possible, which is what we all, in any party, even in these tight financial circumstances, wish to see.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that response. I am delighted to hear that local authorities have a number of those powers already. I omitted to declare that I am a member of a housing authority in terms of Cornwall Council, so I should declare an interest in that now, although I have absolutely no influence on what that council does, being a back-bench member of the opposition there. This important area is key to the success of this scheme. I am delighted that the Government recognise that and I am sure that we will have more conversations about this prior to Report stage. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

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[Baroness Northover]

Perhaps I may reassure the noble Lord that what is being sought here is a balance between bringing providers in and the very important aim of encouraging people to take up these schemes and for them not to think that their fingers are going to be burned if they pay off what they owe early. What underlines these provisions is the attempt to find a proportionate way to deal with that and to protect people through this legislation. However, as my noble friend Lord Marland has indicated, we will be discussing the subject of fees further.

[Lord Teverson]

Clearly, one of the points where someone might want to repay is when there is a transfer of the debt—for example, when the house is sold and the next person takes it on. Is the Government’s proposal for an exit fee or whatever to apply all the way through or does that particular circumstance make a difference?

[Baroness Northover]

I may need to come back to noble Lords on that but, as I understand it, if people choose to repay early the expectation is that they would pay a fee. However, I do not think that I have fully answered what the noble Lord has asked, so I will need to come back to him to clarify that.