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Energy: National Policy Statements

My Lords, clearly the noble Baroness is absolutely right that in a new planning system that makes much of the need for members of the public to have a proper input into decisions, we should have a good consultation on the national policy statements, and we certainly seek to do that. There will be parliamentary scrutiny. I mentioned the word "debate";. it is entirely a matter for the House to decide how it wishes to scrutinise the national policy statements. In the Commons it is likely to be through a Select Committee, which one would expect to produce a report to which the Government would have regard, and the committee can recommend a debate in the House. In this House, it is very much a matter for the House to decide. We are holding five events in different parts of the country to encourage the public and communities to respond to the consultation; we have commissioned an organisation called Planning Aid to publish leaflets setting out background information; and we are making it easy for people to respond on the website. I assure the noble Baroness that we want the consultation to be successful and that the Government will consider very carefully the responses made. However, we should not underestimate that a very important part of this process is parliamentary scrutiny, which is very much in the hands of Parliament.