Lord Whitehead (Lab)

I thank the noble Lord for that point, which confirms that we are both substantially rightish. In some subtexts of the overall charter, there are still some things to be sorted out, but not the charter itself. It should be pretty clear to companies what they are signing up for and what they will be required to undertake once they have signed up for it. The question of how that then works out in detail over the period is a live issue, but it is not an issue that overthrows the charter and its clarity. I am not sure we can take that any further today, but I am happy to engage with the noble Lord offline if he needs clarification on any further points. The noble Lord also mentioned something we have discussed on several occasions: work practices in the supply of some components for low-carbon industry. He mentioned solar panels, obviously, but that issue potentially applies to other things as well. I can only repeat the points about the Government’s efforts to ensure that slave labour is not used in components that are coming to the UK, but I add a further qualification in that the money for which companies bid as they go into allocation rounds allows, among other things, for those companies to use not necessarily the cheapest tender but the tender that is most suitable for the development of both the UK supply chain and good, ethical working practices in the industry, which are part of the fair work charter. So one would expect those companies to be actively engaged in ensuring that what they are committing themselves to, as far as UK supply chains are concerned, includes the sorts of consideration that the noble Lord mentioned. Indeed, supply chains that one can absolutely say are not engaged in slave labour, because they are based in the UK, will be a substantial underpinning of this whole process. We have exhausted pretty much all the available avenues on this SI, but I will briefly address the questions asked by the noble Earl, Lord Russell. He was very supportive of this measure but was particularly concerned about whether it should be a permanent part of the process. He questioned why there is a sunset clause in the Bill for 2028. Of course, that sunset clause encompasses three allocation rounds, and I hope an awful lot of investment will have been secured in those three rounds, but the Government wanted to make sure that, for the long term, that remains the right thing to do. There may well be, in future allocation rounds—if they have been a great success in the earlier rounds—better uses for those particular commitments than are in this SI today. It is important that we learn from what happened in AR7. We will see what happens in AR8. That, hopefully, will culminate in AR9, at which point we can review and decide the long-term future of this mechanism and, indeed, whether it can be used for different and wider purposes in the future, as mentioned by some noble Lords today. The overall welcome by noble Lords for this measure is certainly very welcome. On that basis, I hope the SI will secure unanimous support.