The Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath) (Lab)

My Lords, Amendment 1, in my name, inserts a new clause after Clause 6 which requires the Secretary of State to appoint an independent person to carry out reviews of Great British Energy’s effectiveness. Throughout the Bill’s passage, the Government have made it clear that we are committed to ensuring that Great British Energy is subject to appropriate accountability and reporting requirements. In particular, we have set out in the Bill that Great British Energy’s annual report and accounts will be published and laid before Parliament. The annual report and accounts of Great British Energy will be subject to external audit and the Comptroller and Auditor General will be appointed as the company’s external auditor, in line with the Managing Public Money guidance. The accounting officer of Great British Energy, once appointed, will also be accountable to Parliament, and the National Audit Office will have the right to review Great British Energy’s work and report its findings publicly, and to the Public Accounts Committee. Having reflected on arguments made on Report in relation to independent reviews, particularly by the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, I am bringing forward this amendment. It will require the Secretary of State to appoint an independent person to carry out a review of the effectiveness of Great British Energy, including having regard to the statement of strategic priorities with which Great British Energy must comply. The review prepared by this independent person will be submitted to the Secretary of State, who must ensure that it is published and laid before Parliament. The Secretary of State must share the report with the devolved Governments at least 14 days before publication. The first review must be submitted to the Secretary of State within five years of the Act coming into force, and there will be further reviews at a maximum of five-year intervals. We think that this sensibly balances additional accountability alongside the existing mechanisms of review and reporting, while not overburdening Great British Energy and ensuring that it has the time and space to take long-term strategic decisions as an operationally independent company, and as we have debated extensively during the preceding stages of the Bill. I also repeat the assurance I gave to the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, on Report, which relates to additionality, and confirm that this will be an important principle for Great British Energy, particularly in respect of its investment activity. As such, we expect that these independent reviews will consider “additionality” as part of any assessment of Great British Energy’s effectiveness, having regard to the statement of strategic priorities in doing so. This amendment is in keeping with a commitment I gave on Report. I hope noble Lords will support the amendment and I beg to move.