§ Mr. BlairTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what commitments he intends to enter into on behalf of the Government in respect of National Power's costs for the decommissioning of nuclear power stations and the disposing of and reprocessing of nuclear waste; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ParkinsonAs my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy made clear to the hon. Member on Report on 10 April at column 667, the industry, and, therefore, the consumer, will pay these costs unless something happens which is not foreseen—such as the regulations concerning the environment being changed —and proper provisions could not, therefore, have been made in the accounts. The amendments the Government intend to table at Lords Report stage, announced by Baroness Hooper on 19 June at column 20, do not represent a change to this policy, but a particular means of implementing the Government's commitments under it.