Financial assistance

Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

With this it will convenient to discuss new clause 15—CCS Roadmap—

‘(1) The Secretary of State shall lay before the House a programme and timeline for the delivery of at least three carbon capture and storage demonstration projects.

(2) The Secretary of State shall present this programme and timeline within six months of Royal Assent for this Act.’.

Good morning, Mr. Atkinson, and thank you for chairing our discussions this morning. We are glad to have started the formal sittings on the Bill. As we have previously said, the Bill has important elements. There will be an opportunity to highlight further some of the areas where additional changes need to be made, but there is much that we significantly support and wish to speed through into legislation.

Clause 1 starts us on the process of assessing how we debate carbon capture and storage. Significant steps are proposed in the Bill and many of us see them as overdue. In the evidence sessions last week, which we listened to with great care and which were extremely helpful, we heard people constantly saying that they welcomed the changes being introduced. However, I think it is fair to say that there was frustration throughout at the delays experienced so far in trying to take forward carbon capture in Britain.

I turn to some of the comments made last week. Jeff Chapman of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association said:

“It is a great pity that it has taken such a long time to get to the point that we are at now. We could have got here more quickly. The Energy Bill is extremely welcome from that point of view.”

When asked about whether other countries had moved ahead of the UK, he said:

“There are a number of countries. The USA certainly has extensive plans with support arrangements already put in place for a number of projects. Canada has three projects which were between the time that the funding was announced in total, and the projects were selected through competition and allocated. It took less than a year, so compare that with the time scale that we have just been talking about and obviously we are slipping behind. The first commercial size power project in the world may well be in China. The second one may well be in Abu Dhabi. This Energy Bill is an opportunity for the UK to regain the lost ground. We must seize this opportunity and move on with it.”

Then we had Professor Jon Gibbins, one of the foremost authorities, who said:

“We are maybe five years behind where we could be”——[Official Report, Energy Public Bill Committee, 5 January 2010; c. 37-43; Q75, 77 and 92.]

The impact of those delays has been very significant indeed.

We also heard evidence from some of the major companies involved, and they made it quite clear that the delays had had an impact on Britain. The reason for highlighting that is that there is now a great sense of urgency—we all feel it—about trying to give Britain leadership on this and recapturing some of the lost ground. David Mannering from RWE said:

“If it takes four to five years to build the plant and it is a case of how long is a piece of string to get the planning consents, I guess one would be looking at a minimum period of about seven years, so 2017 would probably look more realistic.”

That looks more realistic than the Government’s original time scale of about 2014. In addition to that, we heard concerns expressed by Dr. Keith MacLean of Scottish and Southern. He said:

“There was no shortage of ambition to move forward with this technology. The limitations that were put on through the competition rather stifled it.”——[Official Report, Energy Public Bill Committee, 5 January 2010; c. 22, Q43 and 45.]

So what we heard very clearly last week was that there has been an enormous amount of leadership in Britain on speaking about carbon capture, but we have not seen the sort of leadership necessary actually to take it forward; we have seen that global leadership position eroded as other countries have moved ahead of it. We now need to recognise where those past mistakes have been in order to move forward.

It was a mistake, earlier on, to rule out pre-combustion from the Government competition. That was very serious because it meant that a number of projects that were most advanced in Britain—indeed, most advanced in the world—got scrapped, and we heard from people last week about how those will not be coming back. We heard from E.ON and others that the projects they were looking at have either been delayed indefinitely, or scrapped completely. There has been a lack of focus on trying to drive that forward and, according to Professor Jon Gibbins, there has not been enough focus on collaboration. Too much has been required of companies working on their own, without seeing how they can combine their expertise and knowledge to give Britain the necessary lead in this area. That has led directly to the loss of some of the groundbreaking projects in this country.

There is continuing potential to make further mistakes, and the Bill does not address that. I hope that through the course of the Committee we manage to address  some of those issues and perhaps make the Bill even more valuable. There is a continuing lack of co-ordination. We know the Government’s plans for the levy, but we do not yet know how they want to take forward the process of co-ordinating that work, which is going to be challenging indeed. I hope that the Government will review favourably the very valuable work done by Lord Oxburgh.

There continues to be a lack of strategic oversight. A number of people giving evidence to us last week talked about the need for oversized pipelines. It has always been my view that if each new carbon-generating facility is required to have its own pipeline to its own sequestration facility, it simply will not happen, because the cost will be unaffordable. Therefore, what one should look for in the legislation is a steer towards oversized pipelines to develop cluster approaches, so that we can have great centres of CCS technology—realistically, I am thinking of the Thames, the Humber and the Forth—where we can show that those technologies can be groundbreaking.

There is still a lack of clarity for investors, which is why we have tabled amendments and new clauses, as have Liberal Democrats and some Labour Members, on the emissions performance standard, which we all think will provide that extra clarity for investors. Concern has also been expressed about the nature of subsequent support, going beyond that which is initially proposed in the Bill. The fact that it says that the Government “may”, rather than “will”, provide support has clearly caused concern for potential investors.

We heard from Sara Vaughan of E.ON last week that the company is worried that it might start a pilot project, with perhaps a quarter of it covering CCS, then later face a requirement to retrofit CCS to the remaining part. It simply does not know whether there would be Government support available for that or not. It is not saying that there should or should not be; it is simply saying that greater clarity is required to persuade its board in Essen that it should be making that sort of investment.

We also heard from Sara Vaughan about the nature of the Government’s rolling review on coal. There is a general welcome for the fact that the Government are looking at how coal can be encouraged to play an important part in the energy mix, but there is concern that the findings in 2018, which she referred to, could result in the plug being pulled on CCS. There is not enough clarity in the Bill to set out the implications for people if that were to happen. Would the money that they had received be drawn back? Would they be expected to continue with that plant with all their own funding? What would happen—would they be closed down if they did not meet an emissions performance standard level? There is a range of questions requiring further answers from the Minister if we are to have the necessary clarity to attract investment into these areas and into the United Kingdom.

I hope that, when responding, the Minister will say more about her approach on clusters. It makes a great deal of sense to have a cluster approach—to look at where there are natural areas of massive demand for energy, or areas where CO2 is going to be produced. London is an example of where there will be great demand; the Humber and perhaps Teesside are examples of where a great amount of CO2 will be produced. In addition to that, the project proposed by Scottish Power at Longannet in Scotland is the furthest ahead. All  those offer great potential for clusters for CCS technology to be developed. I hope that the Minister will clarify that a bit further for us.

We have tabled new clause 15 because there is simply not enough detail in the Bill about how CCS works forward. The history of the Government’s energy policy has been to have a mass of targets without road maps of how they are to be delivered. We have had a target for the eradication of fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010. We have also had a target for the deployment of 10 per cent. of our electricity from renewables by 2010, for the deployment of 10 GW combined heat and power by this year, for the reduction of carbon emissions by 20 per cent. by 2010 and for the insulation of 6 million homes by 2011.

All those targets are looking extremely hard, if not impossible, to meet because the Government have never set out a road map for what is necessary at each stage to achieve them. If we want CCS to work and the UK to have real leadership, we need a clearer sense of direction and a clearer understanding of whose job it is to do what and at what time.

I make a comparison here with the Office for Nuclear Development. When the OND was set up, with the objective of having the first new build nuclear plants operating by 2017-18, it had in place a clear road map. It knows—and everyone else knows, as it is published on its website—whose job it is to do what each month to keep on target. If things are not being done, it can discuss what needs to be done to get things back on target or whether the target needs to be revised.

We need such an approach in a host of other areas of energy policy. Given today’s focus on carbon capture, in new clause 15 we have proposed that there should be a road map of how we will get the plants up and running in the next few years; it is far too challenging to leave the issue purely to the market and to chance. We need a sense of Government leadership, to give people the chance to invest where necessary.

The new clause is designed to be constructive and helpful. It would give the Bill extra rigour and give industry extra confidence. It would show that, rather than just talking about the issues, the Government have a clear process in mind for how they intend to deliver the projects. I am pleased to note that the Government have followed the recommendations that we made a year or so ago about setting up an office for carbon capture and storage, but that office is not functioning in the same way as the Office for Nuclear Development. It has good people involved in it—of that there is no doubt—but it has to be set up on the same basis, with the same direct reporting line to Ministers, the same powers and the same authority. At the moment, it simply does not have those. If we have a road map in place, as suggested by new clause 15, we can show the same commitment to carbon capture and storage as we have shown towards nuclear technology.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. He is giving our debate an excellent introduction. On new clause 15, why did he choose to limit his ambitions to three demonstrators rather than four? We received a clear commitment from the Government last week that they expected four demonstrators. If we row back from that as our minimum commitment, 25 per cent. of the ambition will have gone.

I totally take the hon. Gentleman’s point. The purpose of choosing that number was to make it even easier for the Government to accept new clause 15. If we had said that there had to be four demonstrators, they might have said, “Well, that’s all rather complicated and difficult.” By setting it at an even less ambitious level than the Government have, we have made it easier for them to accept the new clause. If the Government wish to say, “Well, we’ll do it, but we’d rather it said ‘four’ than ‘at least three’”, we would have no problem with that. We are trying to give the Government greater resolve and drive the process forward with greater determination.

Even a future Government?

Even a future Government, who would certainly be keen to see four demonstrators and would strengthen the measures even further.

I hope that what I have said has been constructive. We support the direction of the Bill. It is an important opportunity to make up for time lost, but we want to note at the outset that some ideas put forward in the Bill will not, on their own, be enough. There has to be a road map and we hope that the Government are prepared to support that.

Mr. Atkinson, may I first welcome you to the Chair for this part of our deliberations? We are very happy to serve under your chairmanship.

I am pleased to have my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough with me; he is a much respected Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee and will add to our ability to probe the Government effectively. May I say to the hon. Member for Wealden that we are supportive of the general approach that he identified in his introductory speech? We will be constructive. There is a lot of interest, knowledge and commitment on the Committee, and I hope that there will be a willingness to support good ideas, wherever they come from, so that we can get the appropriate changes. My hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough and I support new clause 15.

As a more logical way of starting, will the Minister put her cards on the table in relation to the Government’s proposals if I sit down now? That would be a sensible way to proceed, so that we can know what we are dealing with. We can then comment on the issues, rather than have me set out my critique. The Government have been too slow and they need to catch up, but we now need to be supportive. If the Minister is willing to make her proposals and outline the Government’s plan, we will be able to quiz her more effectively. I would then like to come back and make my comments.

I call the Minister.

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Joan Ruddock)rose—

Mr. Brian Binley (Northampton, South) (Con) rose—

Order.

I am sorry, Mr. Atkinson, but I have my hand up.

If you stood I would be able to see you, because you are quite large.

Thank you, Mr. Atkinson. I am less large than I used to be thanks to the onset of swine flu. May I say how much I and many other hon. Members welcome this Bill in general terms? It sets a platform for the development of clean coal in this country. We should never forget that we have an estimated 240 years of energy need in coal seams beneath our feet.

There is some disappointment with the Bill in relation to clause 1. I want to talk about those missed opportunities and see whether we can get further comment from the Minister before we make a possible amendment on Report. I am pleased that the Minister has confirmed that there are definitely going to be four demonstration projects. I am also pleased that she has said that two of them will be pre-combustion.

If we look at the cost estimates, we see that there is no doubt that pre-combustion could turn out to be sizeably less expensive than post-combustion, which involves the relatively expensive process of pulverised coal. I am concerned, however, about whether storage is involved in the provision of financial assistance. There is no sense in taking the carbon out of the coal if it is going to sit in lorries on motorways until we decide what to do about storage. I am therefore fearful that we have not said enough about where we are going to put the carbon—specifically, that from the demonstration projects—once it has been extracted.

Secondly, it is well known that I am concerned about the ability to enhance oil as part of the storage process. We only get about 35 per cent. of the oil from a given well out of the ground. It is said that we can get another 15 per cent. from the North sea, meaning a total of 50 per cent. from a given oil well. That will be a tremendous addition to Britain’s well-being.

Finally, we have not talked about how we are going to use British coal. We have talked about carbon capture and storage, but we have a great asset in Britain and I want to know how we are going to help the coal communities. What I am really arguing is that this whole Bill ought to have had a wider application. That is what disappoints me. I recognise that that is not in the Bill, but the Minister might touch on it, because we can enlarge the Bill on Report if it is felt that it is not large enough.

On the road map in new clause 15, I would like a lot of reassurance from the Government, and any future Government, that, if we are to go down the route of encouraging a positive steer towards having at least three carbon capture and storage plants, they will not get tied up in the planning system. I want to be reassured that the Government will ensure that there will be plenty of co-operation between Departments.

I also seek reassurance that there will be a positive steer for planning departments to ensure delivery of at least three plants—a number slightly less ambitious than the Government intended, but with the words “at least” in front of it. It would be helpful for the Minister  to reassure us on that, because it will be pointless to have the ambition if it is to get bogged down for years to come.

It is a pleasure to be part of the Committee and I am pleased that we are now moving to the more detailed proceedings. I am slightly concerned by the huge shout of silence from the Labour Benches; there have now been four speakers on this side and none on the other. I hope that that will not be how the Bill moves forward.

I look forward to what the Minister has to say. We arrived at the Committee with a sense of enthusiasm, armed with our amendments, for a Bill that could best be described as overdue, interesting and enthusiastic but perhaps mediocre in its ambitions. We come, as do others from all parts of the House, wishing to alter the Bill slightly. I hope that the Minister will give some clarity on the openness with which she will be able to greet some of the amendments, to try to improve the Bill.

My hon. Friend the Member for Wealden made clear in his opening statement that this is long overdue. It was clear from the evidence that we took last week that we could have been discussing this Bill five years ago. We did not, and that is a shame. We are doing so today, however, so it our ambition to beef up the Bill, to give it the necessary credence that will not just look after the needs involved with carbon capture and storage but expand to other areas such as gas; we have not had a proper explanation as to why that cannot be included in the Bill.

There are questions to do with pipe sizes and why we are not focusing on clusters; there are questions to do with pre-combustion and post-combustion and with the conduct and process of the competition, which we can now see was not conducted in the best way.

As my hon. Friend also said, we are looking to the Government for leadership. There are some ambitious plans to cut our CO2 emissions in this country. The whole of the nation would agree with that, but the method by which we are to get there is very hazy indeed. I invite the Minister to provide clarity, show leadership and agree to a timetable and a road map that will be able to stipulate the targets and how to achieve them. If we get to that point, we will have a very useful Bill that will be supported by my party.

The issue of a road map is incredibly important and I hope that the Minister will lay out the response, as he was invited to by my hon. Friend the Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey. The road map is crucial in giving not only the Committee but the House the assurance that we are planning a proper route forward to bring CCS to fruition—whether it is with coal, gas or oxyfuels.

I wonder whether the hon. Member for Wealden, or the Minister, when summing up on the new clause, could respond to the issue about disused oil and gas fields. The point that the hon. Gentleman made about enhanced oil recovery is about an old technology. Americans have been using it for many years—pumping carbon dioxide into old fields to pull out the last 15 per cent. or so. We are entirely dependent on having those figures available to us.

As the Minister will be aware, the problem is that we cannot get any enhanced oil recovery if we cap and just fill the seams with sea water; it is finished from that point. Given that we are coming to the end of this parliamentary Session, does the Minister accept that we need to ensure that the interface with the oil companies, which we talked about last week, is given priority? That is important for the long-term use of CCS and a proper carbon sequestration. It is also crucial given the fact that we are going to be able to pull out of the North sea at some future date and enhance oil and gas fairly quickly.

I had not intended to speak on this clause, but the hon. Gentleman makes a very good point about interaction with the oil industry. There is a huge opportunity for the oil industry in the UK offshore area to become part of carbon capture and storage. It is, however, time-limited for the reason set out by the hon. Gentleman. It is also time-limited by the fact that much of the North sea infrastructure is ageing. If we are to have the infrastructure not only for oil recovery, but for the future of carbon, we have to set up a system that allows it to be retained until we are in a position to inject the stored carbon into the aquifers that form the oil fields of the North sea.

The oil companies will spend a considerable amount to retain the infrastructure, but we must be clear about when carbon capture and storage will be available to make sure that it is retained and that we have space ready for carbon once it is captured. That is missing from the Bill, although I appreciate that the Treasury has to have an input, because it will depend on the taxation regime in relation to the North sea. The issue should be looked at, however, in the round, and we also need to look at it as part of CCS.

Before I call the Minister to reply, I should say that we have had a wide-ranging debate on clause 1, as is perfectly appropriate at the beginning of a Committee sitting. I remind members of the Committee, however, that we are going to debate some of the details about oil and so on when we discuss the amendments to clause 6. The Minister will no doubt respond in her own way.

Thank you, Mr. Atkinson. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. As you rightly say, we have started the morning with a wide-ranging debate. I am happy and willing to address the points that have been made, but I would also like to speak specifically to clause 1. We can then be clear about what the Bill sets out, which was not reflected by the opening contributions. Before I speak to clause 1 and to new clause 15, I will respond to some of the comments. That would make for a more coherent presentation.

I am grateful that the hon. Member for Wealden welcomes the Bill. However, as is so often the case with Conservative Front Benchers, he spoke in a way that was in danger of putting Britain down by suggesting that what is being done is in no way world-leading or groundbreaking. We are absolutely clear that it is both. Indeed, it is widely recognised in the world that the UK has been leading, and continues to lead, on the issue. He quoted various witnesses who gave evidence but he chose their comments selectively, to present a picture  that I do not recognise. The comments made were perfectly reasonable responses to questions, and raised concerns, issues and analyses. They did not in any sense, however, suggest that this is not an incredibly important area of endeavour in which the Government are moving at a pace not matched anywhere else in the world. We have—it was said quite clearly—the best, most significant and comprehensive financing mechanism, and a framework that makes it clear that the projects will go ahead at a scale and in numbers that are not matched anywhere else in the world.

We have no evidence whatever that China is ahead on scale or complexity. Most of the projects that have been described—I have looked very carefully; I have asked for all the lists of all the projects around the world—are not nearly on such a scale, and it is scale that matters. It is no longer important to proliferate pilot projects of 1, 2, 3 or 5 MW. We need to talk about how to bring the technology to a commercial scale, and that is what the Government are doing.

I am grateful to the Minister. I would seek not to be selective. I hope that I have tried to say that this is incredibly important technology and we want it to be world-leading, but also to highlight the fact that some people said in evidence that Britain had lost some of that leadership. Does she disagree with Dr. Chapman, who said:

“The first commercial size power project in the world may well be in China. The second one may well be in Abu Dhabi.”?——[Official Report, Energy Public Bill Committee, 5 January 2010; c. 38, Q77.]

Can she point to anybody in the evidence sessions who said that we are world-leading at the moment?

As I have already said, I have asked for all the information that is publicly available. We have no evidence, from all the information that has been gathered, that it is more likely that China or Abu Dhabi will be the first to produce on a commercial scale. They are certainly doing a lot of work, and indeed we are collaborating with them on that work, but it is not at all clear, or obvious, to us that that is the case on scale. However, that is not to say, perhaps, that people are not going to do things that we are not fully aware of, as they are not in the public domain. Frankly, even it were the case, that is not a reason to put down Britain, because we are in this together.

One of the rationales for doing the work is not just to secure an energy mix in the UK, but to contribute on what is clearly an immense global issue. We do not need to make those comparisons in a way that is detrimental to our reputation, because we are working with other countries. We intend to do this; we have a carbon leadership sequestration project co-chaired with Norway, which brings together all the countries in the world that have an interest in CCS. In that sense, we continue to lead in the development and co-operation on CCS globally.

Mr. Atkinson, I seek your guidance. I hope that the Minister will not use the tactic of saying that Conservative Members are attempt to put down Britain. That is quite the wrong thing to deduce from  what we have said. We are actually saying the opposite—that we are proud of where we are and proud of where we could go.

We want to raise the bar higher, because we believe that the Government are not ambitious enough. They have not shown the leadership that the country, great as it is, expects from its Government. That is why we are saying, “Set the bar higher, include gas, widen those pipes, introduce more pre-combustion and have something that we can be proud of that will take us well beyond what is being developed in China, or indeed Abu Dhabi or Dubai.” That is what we are saying: do not keep this down on a level that is out of date already, as was said in the evidence we heard last week.

I have to say to the hon. Gentleman once more that his interpretation of the evidence and mine are obviously quite different. I repeat that we are the first country in the world to guarantee four projects at that scale—and with a financing mechanism, which is proposed in the Bill. No other country has done that. If that is not leadership, I do not know what is, and he should be proud of what we have done, rather than suggest that it is not adequate.

I was asked again about the sense of urgency that the Opposition seek to bring to the debate, the question of 2014 and the time this might take. There is of course a difference—people need to have it in their minds—between post-combustion on an existing plant, which can be retrofitted, and constructing a new plant. The time scale is clearly quite different. In the evidence sessions, we heard Scottish Power say that 2014 is doable and we accept that that is the case, and E.ON say that it was looking at, maybe, 2017. That is on a super-critical plant, which takes time to build. Perhaps the majority of the period would be spent building the new plant rather than the CCS element. We need to be clear that those are two different things. There is no question but that we have a great sense of urgency, and we see that reflected in the Bill.

Pre-combustion being ruled out is a matter for debate. The hon. Member for Wealden thinks it regrettable, we think it the right thing to do. Post-combustion is much more relevant to the world as a whole and is required as soon as possible. That is why the competition was limited to post-combustion, but the subsequent three projects, as we have clearly indicated, will provide for pre-combustion opportunities.

The hon. Gentleman asked about the development of cluster approaches. We agree that that could be the best way forward. It has been explored in our consultation and raised by the Secretary of State himself. We clearly want to do what is best, but we will make that judgment when we see what is on offer, which companies are prepared to come forward and what their proposals are. It may well be that companies themselves suggest that if there is a cluster they might achieve economies of scale in the pipes that will make sense for them. We are very much up for this. We are waiting to see what is on offer, but we have made it clear that we can understand that that would be important.

The hon. Gentleman then accused us of never being able to deliver on any of our targets. That is an extraordinary charge. First, we have put in place all the mechanisms, instruments and programmes that he is criticising. They were  never there until this Government came to office. We have relentlessly pursued issues of, for example, fuel poverty, whereby 4 million people were taken out of fuel poverty.

Clearly we were on target, although we have been derailed on fuel poverty, as any Government would have been, for the obvious reason that we had global price rises. There was no way to protect people from those price rises; they were global in nature. Of course, our fuel poverty programmes have suffered, but not through want of effort on our part. On the 6 million homes, let me assure the hon. Gentleman that I am following that matter very carefully. It is one of my responsibilities and I can assure him that we are on target to secure the 6 million homes in the energy efficiency programme.

I notice the Minister says that 4 million people have been taken out of fuel poverty, but in St. Albans 17 per cent. of people are now in fuel poverty and that figure has been going up. The fact that we have had such a large rise in the population of this country shows that quoting how many people have been taken out of fuel poverty is no good. One has to look at the relative increase. I would suggest to the Minister that this smacks of complacency. I know that people in St. Albans will be unhappy to hear that they have become a target to be met.

Order. I remind the Committee that we are not having a debate on fuel poverty. We are debating the clause and new clause 15.

Dare I say that 4 million were taken out of fuel poverty and that there was a point at which we were on target? I accept totally what the hon. Member for St. Albans says about the current situation, which is very difficult.

The hon. Member for Northampton, South asked whether storage is part of the financing arrangement. Let us be clear: the project that we seek to support with our financing arrangements is to demonstrate the three stages, which are capture, transportation and storage. I think it was he who also asked about where we were going and how we would help coal communities. He raised again the point about enhanced oil recovery.

Before the Minister leaves that last point, as we heard last week, the two companies left that are applying for possible demonstration have no control over any oil and gas fields in the North sea. How does she propose to make the link between the pipes capturing carbon and where it will be deposited, unless she intervenes with the oil companies?

I give the energy companies perhaps a little more credit than the hon. Gentleman does. I do not think that they need the Government to make the connections between their activities and those of the oil companies and storage facilities. They are constantly talking to each other, and often have overlapping commercial interests. When they come forward with their detailed projects, they are not going to present—either to the competition or in other ways—a scheme and say, “We can capture and transport it, but we haven’t a clue where we’re going to store it.” They will have conversations and make what they plan to do apparent to us.

What is the Government’s role? Our role is to facilitate and create the framework. Clearly, that is already being done as part of a European directive, which we are transposing. We create the framework and make it possible. It is not that we are not in dialogue with our stakeholders—we speak to them all the time—but I do not share the hon. Gentleman’s view that we have to make the link happen. It is obvious to everybody. Geological surveys indicate the potential for storage and where we can expect it to be in the UK, and we have created the framework within which that is possible.

I am most grateful to the Minister, who is being generous in giving way. The Government have a leadership role to play in this area and have a responsibility not only on dialogue, but in ensuring that the pipelines remain viable. The Minister knows that many of the wells that we are talking about using for storage come to the end of their production life in 2015, so this is urgent. Will she tell us a little more about the dialogue that the Government are having with those companies and reassure us on that point? It is vital to the possibility of achieving enhanced oil and gas recovery from the North sea.

I have been provided with some advice, but it does not go beyond what I have already said, which is that we are continuing to engage with industry to explore the extent to which any of those issues create barriers. Perhaps that is the hon. Gentleman’s point, whereas I am saying that the bodies must make their own connections and work out their own commercial arrangements—clearly, commercial arrangements will have to be facilitated.

Are there barriers? I say to both the hon. Gentlemen who raised those issues that they should, perhaps, talk to the oil companies. If they want to raise with me or my officials specific barriers that they believe are a problem, I shall happily answer those specific questions. At the moment, I am unable to go further than saying that we maintain the dialogue and are looking at whether there are barriers. As it is in everybody’s interest, the Government would not hesitate if barriers could be removed.

I would like to say more on enhanced oil recovery, because we have tried to find a way through, which is helpful, but first I need to say something about the references to the American experience. Following the evidence sessions, I looked at the issue, and the American experience is entirely on land. I asked whether we had any evidence from anywhere in the world of enhanced oil recovery using CO2 taking place offshore, and the answer was no. There is no evidence that that has been done anywhere. We will therefore be looking to an altogether new process of which we have no experience yet.

The Minister is being pressed on matters whose details we cannot specify at this stage; they will become relevant as the project proceeds. Does that not underline the point—this would satisfy the taxpayer, who has to foot a bill of around £9.5 billion—that, if we introduce a road map, we could ensure the leadership that the Government are expected to provide in order to  link up the various organisations participating in this huge project, and to ensure that they can work together and that the money is well spent?

I shall come to points relating to new clause 15 and the road map in a moment. Let me first finish addressing the issues on enhanced oil recovery. As I was saying, we do not have the experience, but, if it is to happen, it is very important to have a ready-made supply of CO2—as is the case in the American situation—and the carbon capture process could produce that. However, CO2 is not the only gas or material that can be used for enhanced oil recovery, and it may not be the cheapest. The energy companies need to ask themselves whether they think that enhanced oil recovery is financially viable. Although I agree totally that there is value in it, there are circumstances in which the cost of getting the oil will be more than the oil’s actual value in the current market. CO2 may not be the only answer to enhanced oil recovery; it could be an answer, but it would be new.

It is important to tell the Committee that we have ensured, through the Energy Act 2008, that CO2 that is permanently contained as a result of enhanced oil recovery is permitted and treated for the purpose of the emissions trading scheme in exactly the same way as CO2 that is stored directly. That is clearly a benefit.

That is a huge advantage.

It is an advantage that CO2 would have over some other agent. We have made that possible. However, whether using CO2 for enhanced oil recovery is the best way forward remains an open question.

I now turn to what we are going to do to help coal communities. We have a nationalised coal industry—

Freudian slip.

We have a private coal industry, for which the Conservative party is obviously responsible. We cannot direct a particular level of coal production. However, by providing CCS and a future for coal, we offer opportunities to private companies. As the hon. Member for Northampton, South knows, a company’s decision to invest more in the UK will be entirely dependent on the carbon price and the market. We will certainly provide the opportunity if the provision is accepted. If CCS works, coal will have a long-term future, which is undoubtedly what investment decisions will be based upon.

Again, I am most grateful to the Minister. Will she at least assure us that discussions are taking place and that some thought is being given to the potential for using British coal and enhancing coal communities? I am sure that she is immensely interested in them.

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Government constantly look at where our fuel supplies come from and what is in the best interests of the country from the point of view of coal security. That is obviously something of great interest to us and will always be so.

The hon. Member for St. Albans asked me to ensure that projects will not be held up by planning. She will know that we have—[Interruption.] The hon. Lady seeks to leave the room as I begin to address her point. She asked about planning and energy projects being held up. I have to remind her that it is Conservative local authorities that have held up so many energy projects. Perhaps she would like to try to address that in her own party. We certainly expect to try to facilitate, as best we can, greater ease in planning.

The hon. Member for Bournemouth, East raised the question of gas versus coal, and pre-combustion and post-combustion. We will have a long debate on those issues when we reach the relevant amendments, and I will deal with them at that point. He said that the Government have very ambitious emission reduction targets. He is absolutely right—some 34 per cent. reduction by 2020 on 1990, and at least 80 per cent. reduction by 2050 on 1990. Again, those are among the most ambitious targets in the world. I remind him of two things: one is the EU ETS, which is responsible for capping emissions from high-energy users. Also, we now have carbon budgets set in law, which bind us in three five-year cycles already going forward to 2022. As such, we are a carbon-constrained economy, and that is already in place, so anything we do is part of facilitating that, but it is not in itself the absolute determinant of what happens on overall emissions.

The hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough spoke about the US and the technologies for enhanced oil recovery. I hope that I have given him some satisfaction already in my answers, but I am prepared, possibly outside the Committee, if there are real barriers that can be identified, for him to let us know about them.

The hon. Member for Angus referred to that fact that there is a time limit and we want the infrastructure to be retained. I think that that is very clear. The oil companies, which are very much our partners in this, are clearly aware, and are in dialogue with us, about that important aspect of the future of carbon storage.

Finally, before I turn to my presentation of what is in clause 1, I was asked about the office for carbon capture and storage. I just wanted to refer to that in the context of new clause 15, so let me first address new clause 15. The new clause, as it is written, would commit the Government to producing a timetable for delivery of three CCS demonstration projects within six months of Royal Assent. However, I have to say that we have already set out the timetable, as we see it, for the process of selecting the additional three projects for the CCS demonstration programme. That was done in our framework for the delivery of clean coal.

Let me reiterate that we plan to launch a competition for the selection of these projects towards the end of this year and to complete the process during next year. That is as quick a timetable as anyone could envisage. It is a challenging time scale, given the size and the complexity of the programme that we propose. Furthermore, the timetable is consistent with the recommendations that were put forward by the Committee on Climate Change in its first annual report, published last October. As we have already made these commitments to the delivery of the programme, we do not believe that it is necessary to include such a provision in the Bill.

Can the Minister help us understand why she believes the road map is important for nuclear but not for carbon capture and storage? The road map is not just about the competition. It is about when the scoping work should be undertaken and completed and the reports made. It is about when the planning applications should start to be submitted. On nuclear, there is a completely comprehensive set of different elements, so that we can see at each stage what should be done at each point. People would have much more confidence in the ability to deliver on CCS if they could see the same commitment. I cannot understand why the Minister wants that commitment for nuclear but not for carbon capture.

The hon. Gentleman will realise that I have not said that I do not want it. What I have said is that I do not think we need new clause 15, which is quite different. He drew the parallel with the Office for Nuclear Development and asked about the office for carbon capture and storage. That is the place for what he wants to be done in new clause 15. First, the new office for carbon capture and storage has not yet been established. We are in the process of developing the scope and the role of the OCCS. We had a meeting with stakeholders towards the end of last year to develop our ideas on that. That office, when set up, would be responsible and could consider whether—and we must assume it most likely—to produce a road map. That would be the appropriate place for discussions of the nature of the scope and so on and the details of a road map. That body would need to look at it. That would be something that would reasonably follow and, therefore, does not need to be in the Bill.

I can almost hear the collective groan in industry when they read those words. It is six, seven, eight months since the Government announced that the office would be set up. It is frustrating beyond belief that it is not operational. Where is the Government drive in this? It is not enough simply to say there will be a new element within the civil service, accountable to Ministers who at some point in the future may get together and may set out a road map. Surely the Minister should be saying to industry, “To show you how determined we are to do this, to show you how committed we are to Britain’s being a world leader, we will put in place the road map. I, as the Minister, will be the one who puts my rubber stamp on it.” Then people would have real confidence that it is going to happen.

I have real confidence that it is going to happen; the Bill makes all the provision for it to happen. I reiterate: we are looking to have the first call for the projects this year, to start the work next year. The financial mechanism comes in next year. We are doing as much as we can. This is a very complex, new and challenging area and I am confident that we will deliver.

Let me now, at this very late stage, turn to clause 1. The clause provides the framework for funding a programme of four commercial-scale CCS demonstration projects in the UK that will include demonstration of both pre and post-combustion technologies. Coal will continue to play a vital role in providing electricity supplies in the UK and globally, with its use globally set to grow dramatically.

The successful development and deployment of CCS will enable coal to play a future role as part of a diverse and secure low-carbon energy mix at home and abroad. That is why we are supporting the development of what will be critical technology in the fight against climate change. The significant investment required for the installation of the full chain of CCS means that it is not economically viable under current market conditions, and is unlikely to be so in the foreseeable future. The first projects will, therefore, require some form of financial assistance.

The clause gives the Secretary of State the power to provide the necessary financial assistance to CCS demonstration projects. It also enables the provision of financial assistance for additional CCS capacity at those power stations with demonstration projects, which would allow us to fund the retrofit of CCS technology to any unabated capacity at those new coal-fired power stations, should a decision to do so be taken in the future.

Financial assistance can be provided in two ways. First, the Secretary of State can provide it directly. That would be by way of a contractual arrangement between the Secretary of State and the CCS project; it is the arrangement envisaged for the successful project under the current CCS competition. Secondly, an administrator, initially Ofgem, can provide the financial assistance on behalf of the Government. Consequently, the clause gives the Secretary of State the power to make assistance schemes. Those assistance schemes, together with regulations made under clause 3, will create the vehicle for Ofgem to deliver funding to CCS projects.

Assistance schemes are akin to a contract and so, similar to the terms and conditions set out within a contract, they will set out the obligations, entitlements and incentives that will apply to the CCS project. Schemes can also confer functions on the administrator—for example, to monitor and to make payments to CCS projects. Ofgem is a creature of statute. Therefore, new duties and functions must be conferred on it by legislation. The clause will allow the Government to provide the funding required to deliver the UK’s world-leading CCS demonstration projects.

It is helpful that the Minister has set out the general pattern, but I am still disappointed that the opportunities of CCS in the context of UK energy policy as a whole have not been set out more clearly. When I was first elected, coal was the major source of our energy supply, as you will remember, Mr. Atkinson. Things have substantially changed; according to the latest figures, about 16 per cent. comes from coal, about 33 per cent. from petrol, 41 per cent. from natural gas and about 2.5 per cent. from renewables—sadly, a very small figure. We, therefore, have a challenge as to what we do with the threat to our climate and environment if we continue to produce energy from coal in the same way, which is why CCS has been debated for a long time in this country and elsewhere.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough has passed to me—showing that he is wise before as well as at and after the event—his Committee’s report, entitled, “Meeting UK Energy and Climate Needs”, the first report of Session 2005—06, published on 9 February 2006. Page three of the report says:

“We find that the UK is well positioned to play a leading role in demonstrating CCS technology. The UK has rich expertise in geology and in oil and gas exploration and production. It is also  fortunate in having an abundance of well characterised potential storage sites. UK industry has made it clear that it is poised to make substantial investments in CCS and full scale demonstration projects could be up and running by the end of the decade.”

Just so that we are clear, that is the decade that we have now left—the decade that ended at the end of last month. The report continues:

“However, the Government will need to display much greater ambition and commitment than it has done to date in order to take advantage of this opportunity.”

That was not a partisan Committee. It was a Select Committee with hon. Members from both sides of the House, including from the Labour party, who said, “Be ambitious, Government, and we could be up and running within a few years from 2006.” We are not, sadly, and we are coming to this much later than many of us would have wished. Indeed, my party has been clear for a long time—we reaffirmed this at our autumn conference—that we see carbon capture and storage as a pre-requisite for meeting our national, continental and global climate crisis obligations not just in the coal sector but, as we shall probe further, in the other sectors.

That is my second point. This is clearly a technology that should not just be pre and post-combustion. From what the Minister said, I deduce that she will accept on Report an amendment to put in clause 1 “pre and post-combustion”, just so that everybody is clear. I hope that that will not be controversial. She has indicated that that is what is intended. We all agree that it should be what is intended, so I assume that it can come back later without controversy.

This technology is also something that we should now move urgently to support. I will not repeat what has been said, but I endorse the arguments made by the hon. Member for Wealden and others that it does not appear that there is the necessary commitment up front in the Government, the Department and the bit of the organisation that is put in place to deliver it. I am sure that the industry would welcome the most energetic commitment possible. We have tonight in this building the offshore oil and gas industry new year reception. I am sure that it would give the Minister encouragement to broaden the technology and the application.

I want to make three points at this stage. First, when I was in Copenhagen in December—the Minister was also there, as were others—people were putting very strongly the argument that carbon capture and storage is a bad thing. There is an argument against it, but I am persuaded that, on balance, although there are risks, it is right for the UK to go down the technology exploration route. We heard evidence that, on balance, came out in favour of that. I say that particularly because of the location of our coal, the proximity to the sea and the fact that the logic is—I heard this last year when I was talking to experts from this country and the United States—that if we work on the basis that there can be co-operative clusters of activity between different companies in and around the Thames estuary, in and around the Humber, in and around the Tyne and the Tees, and probably and on and around the east coast of Scotland, we get the best of all possible worlds.

That is where much of the coal is. It is very near the places where storage is easiest. There are the disused oil and gas wells offshore. That means that we can minimise  transmission, and therefore all the leakages and so on that happen inevitably with transmission, and we can minimise the infrastructure costs, which is obviously a key part of the proposal.

I say to the Minister that it would be really helpful to have not just the commitment to the funding of the three or four projects, but something in place that showed the infrastructure implications of all that, which we have not heard yet.

One of the great things that we lack in the UK—we shall return to this in other contexts of the Bill—is the infrastructure. It has been a problem generally in British public planning that we do not have the infrastructure to do the next phase of scientific and technological exploration. For my party, the vision is that all this is something that is not just part of a UK infrastructure or an infrastructure that ties in with our immediate neighbours, but that lies within the context of our continent—that has a European super-grid beyond and above it.

Secondly, I am disappointed that the Minister has not really addressed the concerns and urgency—this is why we support adding new clause 15 to the Bill—indicated by the Committee on Climate Change. I want to put to her those things in the report that it produced last year that she failed to allude to, which are about the roll-out of CCS technology. It has a very significant section in chapter four on delivering low-carbon power, and everybody respects the committee’s expertise and topicality. The report says:

“We argued that there is no role for conventional coal generation through the 2020s on the path to an 80% emissions reduction target in 2050, and argued that this should be signalled by the Government to investors... There is an issue over the appropriate role for CCS in gas generation... there is a longer term role for unabated gas generation reflecting lower emission intensity and a potential role as back-up generation... The Committee will... consider viability of gas CCS as part of its advice on the fourth budget, to be published in 2010.”

The report goes on to talk about specific questions on the design of the second competition. The Minister may well remember the following:

“How many projects should be included (one or more)? What technologies should this include (e.g. pre- and/or post combustion)?”

I think we have had those two questions answered. The report continues:

“What is the relative benefit of demonstrating CCS on existing versus new plant?”

It then goes on to say what it thinks should happen. I want to see whether the Minister ticks all those boxes and responds positively to what the report says. It bases that on

“the imperative to get a critical mass of CCS in operation at the earliest opportunity.

The second competition should follow as soon as possible after the first (e.g. in 2010), with the aim to reach operation soon after the plant financed under the first competition (e.g. in 2015 or 2016).

It should award support to more than one plant in order to maximise learning and the probability of success, provided that there is a sufficient number of competitive bids.

It should allow a range of technologies applied to both new and existing plant with a view to developing a portfolio of options for roll-out going forward.

It should allow proposals based on shared infrastructure and oversized pipes to highlight scope for cost savings due to economies of scale.

We will therefore use commencement in 2010 and conclusion in 2011 of a second competition... as a benchmark in our future progress reports.”

It goes on to comment on the signal that we are sending to the industry—the unacceptable idea that in the 2020s we will develop coal power stations without CCS. Those are its words, not mine. The committee commissioned PĂśyry Energy Consulting to do the work for it, as colleagues will remember.

“The top-down approach draws on modelling of power sector decarbonisation in the 2020s for our December report, which included up to 20 GW of CCS plant being added to the power system by 2030, depending on evolution of electricity demand and the levels of investment in nuclear and renewables. It assumes maximum feasible construction of 2.5 GW annually...It therefore requires roll out of CCS to start in the early 2020s in order to keep open the option of delivering the levels of CCS deployment indicated in this scenario.

The bottom-up approach recognises that the first demonstration project should be on the system in 2014 or 2015, with the second phase of demonstrations operational in 2015 and 2016. A decision on roll-out could then be taken as early as 2016, which with a period of five or six years for design, planning and construction would allow additional CCS to come on the system at significant scale from the early 2020s.”

Does the Minister accept all that as the timetable? Is that the Government’s view? On infrastructure, does she accept that

“a range of storage options would be required, with physical testing of saline aquifers,”

—alluded to by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough and others—

“which are less well characterised than depleted oil and gas fields, an important near-term objective”?

The last two points are probably the most important.

“The issue...is whether energy companies could reasonably be expected to coordinate and exploit economies of scale, (e.g. by oversizing pipes and granting shared access).

It will be important that there will be a clear strategic plan and regulatory framework for infrastructure development in place no later—and ideally sooner—than any decision to roll out CCS.”

We have to see the whole thing as a timetable that starts now and goes right through to the implementation. The report goes on to say that

“the Committee will track progress in early development of a strategic plan for infrastructure development.”

It also states that

“there is no role for unabated coal-fired generation beyond the 2020s on the way to an 80% emissions reduction in 2050,” and that

“any investment in conventional coal generation should only be allowed for an interim period and should be made on the full expectation that CCS would be retrofitted.”

The report’s final section is robust and poses questions to the Government. I would be grateful if the Minister answered them. The committee is concerned about

“whether the proposed framework would lead to appropriate application of CCS technology in a timely manner”.

In particular, it envisages

“a situation post-demonstration where the carbon price is insufficient to cover CCS costs, but where deployment is desirable given the strategic importance of decarbonising the power sector and the potential to further reduce CCS costs through learning. It is not clear that CCS would be regarded as proven in these circumstances under the Government’s proposals.”

The question is, do the Government accept that, to prove their case, they will not have to show that they can meet the cost without additional help—in other words, that the carbon price alone will be sufficient to meet the roll-out? Is that the Government’s position?

Secondly, the report notes:

“There is a long lag between when the first demonstration plant is scheduled to be up and running (2014) and the proposed timing for the review (2020), which is particularly problematic given the lead-times of five or six years for a CCS plant and the need to roll out CCS from the early 2020s.”

Do the Government accept that there might need to be a much speedier set of further decisions rather than a decision at the end of this new decade?

Thirdly, the committee states:

“We are also concerned as to whether the proposals give a strong enough signal that for any plant not fitted with CCS there will be little or no role further into the 2020s; the fact that there will be a review does not ensure an expectation that the generation would be severely limited.”

Do the Government buy the committee’s recommendations and say yes to them? It would be encouraging if they did. The committee makes a recommendation:

“Whether CCS is deemed proven should not be judged only on the basis of the carbon price.”

Do the Government agree? It also recommends:

“To the extent that retrofit might be considered desirable in this context but would require additional support over and above what is likely to be provided by the carbon price, investors should be given comfort now that a mechanism would be introduced to provide this support.”

Is that agreed? The next recommendation is:

“Such a mechanism should be introduced no later than 2016 to support roll-out once the first demonstration plants become operational.”

Is that agreed? Finally, the committee recommends:

“The Government should make it absolutely clear now that whether or not CCS can be deemed economically viable any conventional coal plant still operating unabated beyond the early 2020s would only generate for a very limited number of hours.”

Is that agreed?

My last question is not related to the CCC report. Does clause 1 mean that the Government believe that assistance should not be used to provide wider support for CCS technology once it becomes commercially available, or to develop infrastructure beyond that which is necessary for demonstration? We need to be clear that it is limited to those two things.

Others are developing CCS technology in parallel with us. We know where they are and assume that those who are developing it here will learn from global initiatives elsewhere. As the Committee chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough has made clear, we are terribly behind. We can catch up—there is the will to do it—and we are all supportive of the progress. It would be helpful, however, if the Government put all their cards on the table so that the industry can respond, and see that there is a commitment to the first competition and how the whole programme over the next five years will work. If that happens, we believe that we can have a new generation of coal-fired power stations that are likely to be CCS fitted with no unabated coal, from the beginning of that generation in 2020. That will be necessary to curb the coal industry’s emissions, and it will also be necessary to do it across other sectors  to curb emissions as a whole. We could probably curb 90 per cent. of emissions in the power sector if we did that across all the component elements.

That is a good way to proceed if we are to meet the climate crisis challenge, but the issue needs more robust legislation. Indeed, I think that the theme of this Committee will be to try to make the Bill more robust—through our party’s amendments as well as through those, such as new clause 15, tabled by colleagues.

We have had a useful and helpful debate on the opening clause; I hope that as the debate goes on we will start to see some interventions from Labour Committee members as well. I have been struck by how many people who really know about energy have been put on the Committee, including four members of the Select Committee. It is very positive of the Government to put a significant number of energy experts on the Committee, and I hope that they will find their voices as we move forward in our considerations.

I hope we can agree on one thing—that no one here is interested in talking down Britain. If anything, we have sought to highlight the frustrations of business and those in academia and elsewhere about the pace of progress on carbon capture and storage. We want Britain to lead the world. We have a high ambition, as do the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish nationalists and, I have no doubt, the Government. We all want Britain to be a world leader. Our goal is 5 GW of new coal, equipped with carbon capture and storage, in place by 2020. That could be three plants, four plants or more. It is that magnitude of change that we are looking to achieve.

The hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey talked about the declining role for coal. Yesterday, coal was responsible for 43.5 per cent. of the electricity generation in the country. This could not be a more timely debate. In times of duress, particularly in severe cold weather, the coal plant is pumping out at maximum capacity. How we continue to keep coal as part of that energy mix is very important but we need to move faster. While the measures in the Bill are welcome and clearly crucial and important in taking this forward, what business is looking for is greater certainty than currently exists.

That point is important for the road map proposal in new clause 15; I ask the Minister to give further consideration to it as we go through. Even if she does not want to accept the new clause, if she were to say to us, “We will publish that road map within six months”, that would be enough; it would give us the certainty to go to investors and say, “You will in the course of the next few months have the detail you need.” The issue is not just about the competition. It is also about the scoping work, as I have said, and who is to carry it out on the potential fields for sequestration. It is about when things come into planning and a whole range of other things, as we have seen with the nuclear road map. Giving industry that certainty would be very powerful.

I am sure that work is being done in the Department. If there were to be a change of Government in a few months’ time, one of the first things a new Minister would wish to see is that draft road map. There is no doubt that this Minister’s officials are beginning to think about what would go in that road map. Why does she not just take the credit and say, “I will make a  pledge today that within six months there will be a road map”? If she did that, I think we would agree that our new clause would be unnecessary and superfluous. Without that, we are going to continue to press her, saying that in these areas we need greater clarity about who should be doing what by when.

The issue of enhanced oil recovery could not be more crucial to the debate. Important work has already been done on the scoping of some of the potential sequestration sites. Particular credit should go to Professor Stuart Haszeldine of Edinburgh university for the work that has happened there. The scoping work in Scotland has been carried out in greater detail than that in England, with credit due to the Scottish Government. That is not to denigrate the work undertaken by the Royal Geographical Society.

If we do not know the detail—when we will know which sequestration sites will be possible and where enhanced oil recovery may be relevant—that will stifle the speed at which we can move forward in developing some of these projects and the very important work. A road map does not have to be definitive at this stage. Inevitably, this is work in progress; inevitably, it gives industry the chance to say, “We want greater clarity on this. We think these areas have not been included and should be.”

The nature of a road map evolves over time. It gives everybody a sense of what they are working to. The point I made earlier about targets was not to criticise the Government for failing on them—although it has failed on many—but to say that a target without a road map means that nobody really knows whose job it is to do what to make that target happen. If we have very ambitious targets for CCS, having a road map in place will be of benefit to everybody; the Government, the office of carbon capture and storage and the industry will know what they need to do. Everybody will understand what has to happen and slot into place each month to keep us on track and on target.

If the Minister will give a greater commitment on that today, the industry out there will move from groaning in frustration and saying that we are not showing the determination that it wants, to giving a big cheer. The greater commitment could be announced tonight at the annual oil and gas annual event in the House. It would be met with great enthusiasm and delight and would indicate that the Government are determined to deliver on the time scales.

Finally, we are looking at how the whole process can be speeded up. The evidence session last week clearly showed the frustration at the pace at which the competition has moved. Is there scope within the competition to say, “Look, here are two proposals. Kingsnorth will have a new build and Longannet will be retrofitted”? We can save ourselves a year by finishing the competition now and awarding both of them a contract and taking them forward. The remaining competition will look for two pre-combustion approaches. That would save us a year and industry would be delighted. Is the Minister considering that? It would move the debate up a gear and show that the determination that she has shown in her words will be matched by action.

May I refer to a point made by the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey? Almost as a throwaway, there was an assumption that  we could agree a new amendment to include pre and post-combustion in the Bill. It is only reasonable for me to say that I would resist such an amendment. We do not want to specify specific technologies in that way, and, as he knows, it is not normal practice. The record stands; we have made a policy decision and I have repeated on a number of occasions that both pre and post-combustion will be supported. That should be sufficient, so we do not want to put it in the Bill.

The hon. Gentleman posed a long series of questions—well, not questions so much as repetition of the points raised by the Committee on Climate Change. We have considered its report carefully and will publish a full response shortly. He will have greater detail then than I can give him today, but I shall try to cover the points that he made. I have made it clear that there will be four projects and that there will be pre and post-combustion technologies. On the question of whether we should use existing or new power stations, we are clear that we want the greatest learning benefit from the projects so, in principle, it is desirable that there will be a mix of existing and new projects. However, we will have to judge when we see the quality of the proposals.

As the hon. Gentleman said, the Committee on Climate Change suggested that the second competition should follow as soon as possible. I have indicated clearly to the Committee this morning that it will follow as soon as possible and that the first call will come this year. I have dealt with the fact that there should be a range of technologies. Proposals on shared projects, infrastructure and pipelines should be allowed; clearly, there is no question that they would be disallowed.

On the suggestion that there should be a roll-out of CCS, starting in the 2020s, I should say that that has always been the stated aim of the Government. It still seems entirely feasible that second stage projects would come on stream in 2015-16.

The hon. Gentleman raised the comments of the Committee on Climate Change about the review in 2020 being too far ahead. I think that in my evidence I indicated that we now plan a rolling review, to conclude in 2018. We have heeded the concerns of the committee.

On retrofitting, it is clear from the Bill that we are providing a funding mechanism that can be used to retrofit beyond the carbon capture and storage demonstration at a particular plant. The same financing mechanism could be used to continue financing to move from what is approximately 25 per cent. coverage for CCS to 100 per cent. We have made it clear that that could happen where new power stations have had that treatment.

What we cannot say at this stage—and this applies to all the questions put by the hon. Gentleman and the Committee on Climate Change—is where we might be in economic and commercial terms by 2020. I cannot predict that, and neither can the hon. Gentleman or the committee, so I cannot tell him today what will condition our thinking. I can tell him that that is, of course, the whole point of a rolling review. That review will deal with several things, including the other projects, and particularly the EU projects, because we anticipate 12 CCS projects being funded by the EU in the same time frame and we will learn from them. We will be able  to see the carbon price, and how it is moving, and of course that depends on making more progress on the Copenhagen accord.

There are so many unpredictable elements that at this stage we cannot say we will make a judgment about commerce and the economic situation in the 2020s, and predetermine that. We must provide a mechanism that leads us to make the right decisions, and that is the rolling review that is to be concluded in 2018. The way in which we come to a judgment about what constitutes commercial viability is part of that process, but one thing that we did in addition to what the Committee on Climate Change asked of us was to say that all new coal-fired stations must demonstrate CCS on a proportion of their plant.

In addition, as the hon. Gentleman will already know, a significant number of coal-fired stations—I think it is five, although I cannot remember; perhaps someone will want to correct me on that—will come to the end of their life by 2015, with the vast majority continuing into the 2020s. Therefore, as to the question of what unabated coal remains, the very limited lifetime referred to by the Committee on Climate Change is likely to be the reality, no matter what the Government do. We are bound by a lot of other legislation that is bringing our ageing plants to the end of their lives.

The hon. Member for Wealden invited me to say that we would publish a road map and give industry certainty. I think that I have already suggested that we consider it to be premature to make a statement that we will publish a road map in that time scale. If we were prepared to give a commitment to that this morning, clearly we could accept the new clause, which we are not prepared to do. However, I have tried to assure the hon. Gentleman that through the new office for carbon capture and storage there will be a process to cover that ground entirely. I have tried to indicate the extent to which we constantly engage with our stakeholders. I do not share his view that industry is so critical of us. A lot of the response we get from industry on the question of CCS is very positive. We are content that we are working effectively with the industry. We are content that, within clause 1, we are providing a framework setting out what we plan to do.

I have endeavoured to give as many assurances as I reasonably can to the Committee. We have the ambition and the determination, and we will see this through. As I have indicated, we will have gone further than most countries in the world in trying to make CCS commercially viable.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 1 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.