FAILURE TO SUBMIT PROGRAMMES (Hansard, 11 February 1987)

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
I beg to move amendment No. 14, in page 4, line 13, leave out from 'sum' to 'for' in line 14.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments Nos. 15, 19 and 20.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
The hon. Member for Wentworth (Mr. Hardy), with his customary assiduity, drew attention in Committee to the interest that may be charged on any sum that is outstanding where the Secretary of State has prepared an abandonment programme, and said that it should be a commercial rate. Although I was unable to accept the hon. Gentleman's amendment at that stage, I undertook to consider the matter further and, hopefully, to make the wording more precise. I have done that, and a similar point arises in relation to clause 9.
In considering the amendments, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will perhaps feel that he has got two for the price of one and that that will be some consolation for the fact that I did not respond more positively to the earlier amendment that he moved.

§ Mr. Hardy
I wish briefly to express my appreciation to the Minister. The Department of Energy obviously has an interest in the matter as we were seeking to protect the Secretary of State for Energy from some of the ravaging 399 demands made by his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. We know that interest rates are already, sadly, very high and gravely burdensome in Britain. However, it may be that the industry would rather pay the commercial interest rate than a charge which a rather rapacious Chancellor of the Exchequer may wish to levy in some future year when the Government's coffers are not quite so swollen with the results of privatisation.
It would be churlish of me to continue and, in any case, we do not have the time. However, I am extremely grateful to the Minister. We accept the amendment with considerable pleasure.