Member

Amendments 10 and 11 would require the House of Commons to approve a national policy statement before it can be designated. The amendments do not extend the requirement to updates to an existing national policy statement. I appreciate the noble Baroness’s reasoning for the amendment but do not agree that the House of Commons procedure is in practice difficult for Members of Parliament to navigate. Let us take, for example, the National Networks National Policy Statement, which was designated only last year. A debate took place and the subsequent resolution was successfully passed in the House of Commons within the 21-day sitting period, showing that it is a practicable system with opportunities for Parliament to scrutinise and intervene.