Member

I hope nobody in the Committee takes away from this debate that the Government are not serious about tackling this issue. I leave with the Committee that the amendments proposed by the noble Baroness on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, could create a number of technical problems that need to be thought through in a much more constructive way and should not be accepted today. That is not to say that there are not solutions there; on his return, the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, may wish to renew this debate on Report. However, for the moment, there is a serious attempt by the Government to tackle this issue. We are bringing together partners and trying to secure initiatives. We want to look at the issues of designing out in the longer term, but if I accepted this amendment today there would be a host of potential spin-offs that would be consequential to it.