Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)

The issue is twofold here. If we want a secure energy supply, we have to move away from fossil fuel and we have to do it gradually. We will be using the North Sea for fossil fuels for decades to come. We cannot talk about any issues around the Finch case at the moment—or about Rosebank, Jackdaw and Cambo fields—because that is going through the regulatory system, but the Government are well aware of this. It is only fair to repeat that we need to move away from fossil fuels, which is why we are aiming to do our best with nuclear, wind farms and solar farms. It is to ensure that we have security of supply and that our energy prices are not set by a global figure for gas. We can have this debate until we are blue in the face but, to be honest, we need to get back to the SI. I will try to answer the questions. One of the questions asked by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, was about the number of companies. It is about 100: it was 100 last year, it is 100 today and we anticipate that it will be 100 in the future. There was also a question about reviewing fees. The fees are reviewed annually to ensure that the charging regime is fit the purpose. This also takes the inflationary impact into consideration. I repeat that the reason that there has been a significant increase in the fees is that, in the past, we have never recovered the costs of statutory advice from nature conservation bodies and certain costs associated with the UK energy portal, which is OPRED’s digital system for delivery and regulatory services. We have done that this year and do not anticipate that there will be such a big increase next year, but it is obviously something that we will consult upon and look at. I have mentioned the number of companies. The hourly rate increase reflects higher staffing and delivery costs, including pay rises and support services; there are also other issues. The increase is greater this year because the calculation now ensures that we are recovering costs we were not recovering in the past. We will do our best to ensure that there are no higher increases in future because we like to think that the ones we have instigated this year will be a one-off, although we cannot say that for definite going into the future. The noble Baroness mentioned the figure of 1,243 hours. It reflects the average annual time spent on potentially recoverable work after deducting leave, bank holidays, management and other non-chargeable activity. There is a paragraph in the SI on the types of inflationary pressure that could come into effect. The consultation would cover issues around inflation pressures and would set out the costs and issues, which are more appropriate for the Explanatory Memorandum, rather than the SI.