HL Deb 28 June 1976 vol 372 cc575-7

2.50 p.m.

The Earl of LAUDERDALE

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government to list the results of the Energy Conference convened by the Secretary of State for Energy on 22nd June.

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, it is too soon to assess the full impact of the Energy Conference, which brought together for the first time in open discussion representatives of the very wide range of interests concerned. I believe that everyone left the Conference with a much better understanding of each other's points of view and of the complex factors that go into energy policy-making. My right honourable friend is now considering, in the light of the views expressed, how the momentum of discussion generated by the Conference can be maintained in the future.

The Earl of LAUDERDALE

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that rather general reply, may I ask him whether he would agree that included in the understandings which Conference participants carried away with them was the experience of the nationalised sector quarreling like Kilkenny cats? Would he further agree that the Conference masked, instead of brought out, the choice of weapons open to Government in guiding energy policy as between outright control, on the one hand, and the use of tax or subsidies, on the other?

Lord MELCHETT

No, my Lords; I do not think that I agree with the noble Earl. My impression of the Conference—which I did not attend, unlike, I believe, the noble Earl—from everything I have read and have been told about it, is that it was a considerable success and is thought to have been a considerable success by most of the people who attended it, and, thus, a very useful dialogue took place between the various interests. I do not think that a dialogue can be useful unless some disagreement is expressed.

The Earl of LAUDERDALE

My Lords, I am not attempting to say that it was not a tremendous success, particularly as a public relations exercise for the Secretary of State for Energy.

Lord AVEBURY

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the Secretary of State said during the Conference that the whole of the proceedings would be published, as he put it, in the form of a Hansard? Is the noble Lord aware that the quicker this information is available to everyone outside who is interested in energy policy the more valuable will be the results of the Conference? May I ask the noble Lord to convey to his right honourable friends the thought that since transport policy is so intimately bound up with energy policy, the same kind of exercise might well be conducted with advantage on the Orange Paper on Transport Policy?

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right to say that my right honourable friend said that the transcript of the proceedings would be published. In addition to that transcript being published, there were 29 papers submitted by people attending the Conference and four submitted by the Department of Energy, and they will also be published. Those papers and the transcript will be published as soon as possible. As to holding similar conferences on other areas of public policy, I am sure that my right honourable friend responsible for transport policy will take note of the noble Lord's point.

Lord IRONSIDE

My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord to say whether all the papers will be published; that is, those that were delivered and those that were handed in and accepted but not actually delivered?

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, as I understand it, a number of principal participants were invited to submit papers and 29 such papers were submitted; it is those papers which are being published. I am not sure whether those include papers submitted on the day, but possibly I could write to the noble Lord and let him know.

Lord GORE-BOOTH

My Lords, is there a certain policy of reticence adopted by the Government on publishing White Papers on international conferences? I ask this question only because I observed the same thing with regard to UNCTAD.

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, this was not an international conference but a conference called to discuss the United Kingdom's energy policy. There is absolutely no reticence on the part of my right honourable friend in publishing transcripts of the proceedings, which will be published as soon as possible.