Vol. 768 Tuesday No. 108 9 February 2016 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDER OF BUSINESS Retirement of a Member: Lord Dixon ........................................................................2111 Questions Oil and Gas: UK Continental Shelf.........................................................................2111 Housing Estates ...........................................................................................................2114 Walking and Cycling...................................................................................................2116 Daesh: Genocide..........................................................................................................2119 Transport for London Bill [HL] Motion to Consider .....................................................................................................2121 Welfare Reform and Work Bill Third Reading...............................................................................................................2121 Housing and Planning Bill Committee (1st Day) ..................................................................................................2132 Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Funding Question for Short Debate..........................................................................................2192 Housing and Planning Bill Committee (1st Day) (Continued).............................................................................2207 Grand Committee Immigration Bill Committee (5th Day)............................................................................................GC 125 £4·00 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. Corrections for the bound volume which Lords wish to suggest to the report of their speeches should be clearly indicated in a copy of the Daily Report, which, with the column numbers concerned shown on the front cover, should be sent to the Editor of Debates, House of Lords, within 14 days of the date of the Daily Report. This issue of the Official Report is also available on the Internet at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201516/ldhansrd/index/160209.html PRICES AND SUBSCRIPTION RATES DAILY PARTS Single copies: Commons, £5; Lords £4 Annual subscriptions: Commons, £865; Lords £600 LORDS VOLUME INDEX obtainable on standing order only. Details available on request. BOUND VOLUMES OF DEBATES are issued periodically during the session. Single copies: Commons, £65 (£105 for a two-volume edition); Lords, £60 (£100 for a two-volume edition). Standing orders will be accepted. THE INDEX to each Bound Volume of House of Commons Debates is published separately at £9·00 and can be supplied to standing order. All prices are inclusive of postage. The first time a Member speaks to a new piece of parliamentary business, the following abbreviations are used to show their party affiliation: Abbreviation Party/Group CB Cross Bench Con Conservative DUP Democratic Unionist Party GP Green Party Ind Lab Independent Labour Ind LD Independent Liberal Democrat Ind SD Independent Social Democrat Ind UU Independent Ulster Unionist Lab Labour LD Liberal Democrat LD Ind Liberal Democrat Independent Non-afl Non-affiliated PC Plaid Cymru UKIP UK Independence Party UUP Ulster Unionist Party No party affiliation is given for Members serving the House in a formal capacity, the Lords spiritual, Members on leave of absence or Members who are otherwise disqualified from sitting in the House. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2016, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 2111 Retirement of a Member: Lord Dixon[9 FEBRUARY 2016] Oil and Gas: UK Continental Shelf 2112 Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con): My Lords, is it House of Lords not quite obvious by now that Scotland and the oil industry have benefited enormously from having the Tuesday, 9 February 2016. strength of the United Kingdom around them? Had the Scottish people voted for independence, they would 2.30 pm not have been able to benefit from the wider resources of the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister’s Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Chester. welcome involvement in supporting the oil industry in the north-east of Scotland. Retirement of a Member: Lord Dixon Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: My Lords, my noble Announcement friend is absolutely right about the strength of the United Kingdom and the resilience that it has afforded 2.35 pm to the oil industry over a period of time. Long may that resilience continue. The Lord Speaker (Baroness D’Souza): My Lords, I should like to notify the House of the retirement, Lord McFall of Alcluith (Lab): My Lords, Scotland with effect from today, of the noble Lord, Lord Dixon, has its very own carbon crisis. The Minister mentioned pursuant to Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform a supplementary tax. That was imposed in the 2011 Act 2014. On behalf of the House, I should like to Budget and increased from 20% to 32% on the basis thank the noble Lord for his much-valued service to that oil prices had doubled. They have now crashed the House. from $114 a barrel—happy days for the SNP—to less than $30 a barrel. There must be a compelling case for scrapping that supplementary tax in its entirety and Oil and Gas: UK Continental Shelf engaging once again with Sir Ian Wood and others to Question ensure that, in a bleak global environment, there is at least some viable future for the North Sea oil industry. 2.36 pm Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: My Lords, the noble Asked by Lord Bruce of Bennachie Lord is right that the fall in oil prices is an international To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action problem. He will be aware that there was fiscal reform they intend to take to assist the viability of oil and in the 2015 Budget, with a £1.3 billion injection of extra gas exploration and development on the United help over five years through tax cuts. As I have said, Kingdom continental shelf in the light of the reduced the Chancellor will look at representations that have price of oil. been made to him. Lord St John of Bletso (CB): My Lords, are the The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department Government considering a direct subsidy of development of Energy and Climate Change and Wales Office (Lord capex for exploration and production companies on Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con): My Lords, during his the UK continental shelf, such as is given to similar visit to Aberdeen on 28 January, my right honourable companies in Norway? friend the Prime Minister set out an action plan to help build a bridge to the future for the industry. This includes a £20 million package of new investment in Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: My Lords, the package exploration, innovation and skills, and a new oil and that the Prime Minister announced on 28 January gas ambassador. includes £20 million of new investment in seismic exploration. This will be of assistance, together with the City Deal package for Aberdeen which includes a Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD): My Lords, the oil new innovation energy centre. I hope that the noble and gas industry is probably facing its worst ever crisis Lord will welcome it. since it was established more than 60 years ago. Will the Government now scrap the supplementary charge Lord Hayward (Con): Will my noble friend please and will they clarify the liabilities on decommissioning bear in mind that although this is a major problem for which might help that to proceed? This industry has the north-east of Scotland and the Grampian area in provided tens of billions of pounds worth of investment particular, the oil and gas industry and exploration on and hundreds of thousands of jobs for many decades. the continental shelf have generated much wealth for Will the Government ensure that their action plan will the whole of this country, and therefore tackling the enable it to do so for many decades into the future? particular issues of the continental shelf will benefit large parts of the nation’s economy? Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: My Lords, it is true that representations have been made on the fiscal front Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: My Lords, my noble and the Chancellor will be considering those. We must friend is absolutely right about the benefits to the whole recognise that it is not all doom and gloom. Bob of the United Kingdom from oil and gas exploration. Dudley, the chief executive of BP, said last month that He will be aware that two massive new fields to the the North Sea remained viable economically and would west of Shetland were opened today by Total in Laggan be for decades to come. and Tormore, which is very good news. 2113 Oil and Gas: UK Continental Shelf[LORDS] Housing Estates 2114 Lord Grantchester (Lab): My Lords, when Sir Ian Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton (Lab): My Lords, Wood published his recommendations two years ago, I declare an interest as a Lancashire resident. Will the oil was indeed trading at a much higher price than it is Minister care to take away and reflect on the fact that today, with the price now dipping to below $30 a there is great concern and anger at government suggestions barrel. Will the Minister inform the House what effect that local people should be taken out of the decision- the Government think this has had on the strength of making process for future fracking? Will he care to the recommendation of the Wood review report? comment