To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they expect the Infrastructure Planning Commission to announce their first decisions on energy infrastructure projects before May 2010.

It is the Government's intention that the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) will start to accept nationally significant infrastructure applications for energy from 1 March 2010.

Under the Planning Act 2008, the IPC has 28 days to decide whether or not to accept a submitted application. The applicant must give notice to a range of persons of the accepted application, allowing them at least 28 days to make representations. If the application is accepted, the IPC must hold a preliminary meeting. The Government have recently consulted on draft regulations which would require the IPC to give at least 21 days' notice of a preliminary meeting. The Planning Act sets a timetable for the IPC to complete its examination of the application within six months of the date of the preliminary meeting, and then a further three months for the IPC to issue a decision (or a recommendation to the Secretary of State when a national policy statement has not been designated). The exact time taken by the IPC to make decisions will reflect the nature and complexity of the application.