Lord Redesdale (LD)

My Lords, I start with utter shock and surprise that the Minister could ask me to go down that route. It seems to be traditional on every Private Member’s Bill for that to be added at the end of each speech. The Minister has made a very comprehensive reply and I will obviously take on board her views that I should look at the next stages of this Bill. I thank her for the opportunity to talk to her officials before I make that decision. I know that many of the bodies involved in this will perhaps look at giving their views before I do that. On the Bill itself, the noble Viscount, Lord Camrose, raised two issues. The first was about the three bodies that will be looking at this, but of course they each have very separate responsibilities. It is a problem across the board, with the EA, health and safety and planning, that some of these issues fall between the cracks. One issue that I was particularly concerned about and is raised in the consultation is retrofit. You can take out a generator and put in a battery and no consultation would have to take place if original planning permission was sought. That will be a real issue, especially, as the noble Earl, Lord Erroll, said, these batteries will be put in places to fit within the building envelope, which sometimes might not fit within the envelope that the fire brigade would wish for. The noble Viscount also asked why I stuck with only lithium-ion. As was raised by other noble Lords, with a Private Member’s Bill, you can of course do only so much. The purpose of the Bill is to have a first bite of the cherry, looking at how the issues are going to be raised in the forthcoming Bill. I look forward to having a second try in that Bill, but I do not think I will be alone in that. There will be a very long list of people who want to partake in that Bill, and I wish the Minister all the luck with some of the issues that will come forward. I should say for the industry that while there is a risk from lithium-ion batteries, that risk is obviously not high; otherwise, my noble friend Lady Brinton would not be sitting on two large lithium-ion batteries at this very moment in time. I thank all noble Lords for taking part. I should mention something raised by the doorkeeper when he asked for my notes, which is that there is a battery disposal point at the entrance to the Commons Terrace, if anybody wishes to make use of it. The Minister raised the problem of disposal, which I might come back to in Committee. There seems to be a massive problem, not from the industry nor from the waste industry but from the public, in making sure that the large amounts of batteries that people happily throw away do not end up in the waste stream. On that basis, I beg to move.