Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2021 to Question 169004 on Committee on Climate Change, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that industry representation on the Committee on Climate Change does not advance policies favourable to their specific interests; and if he will make a statement.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is an independent, statutory body made up of highly esteemed academics and experts across a range of key sectors. BEIS carries out thorough due diligence exercises on each new board member prior to approving their appointment to identify conflicts of interest so that they can be managed appropriately on appointment. In some cases, it will not be appropriate to offer a role if the conflict is too great.

All Committee Members and staff are required to recognise and disclose activities that might give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest. The CCC has a formal policy process on conflicts of interest which is reviewed annually. The process for existing Committee members to raise conflicts of interest is managed by the Committee secretariat at the start of every Committee meeting. All members are asked to identify and declare material interests, at the earliest opportunity. The secretariat will review each case to determine whether an individual needs to step down from the Committee to avoid an actual or perceived serious conflict of interest arising or to decide on how to manage whilst remaining in role.

The CCC’s conflicts of interest policy, along with a register of interests for Committee members, and the minutes of each Committee meeting are published in the Transparency section of the CCC’s website at: https://www.theccc.org.uk/about/transparency/.