To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he took to fulfil his obligation to consult Scottish Ministers, under section 61 of the Scotland Act 2016, on the contents of the Contracts for Difference press announcements made on 9 November 2016.
Answered on
22 December 2016
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has certain obligations under section 61 of the Scotland Act 2016 to consult Scottish Ministers, as well as a statutory duty to consult Scottish Ministers before making regulatory changes under section 24 of the Energy Act 2013.
However, the announcements made on 9 November did not fall within the scope of the obligation as they related to matters falling within stated exceptions to that obligation, or are subject to consultation now with Scottish Ministers. On 9 November 2016 the Department published further details of the strike prices for the second Contracts for Difference (CFD) Allocation Round:
- The budget (including lapse of the minima and application of a maxima, strike prices and the strike price methodology) is an exercise of a statutory power under the CFD scheme and not subject to any Parliamentary procedure and thus falls within the exception to consult in section 90C(2) Scotland Act 1998, as inserted by section 61 Scotland Act 2016: the strike price methodology used had already been agreed for the first CFD round and officials shared a number of technical details with Scottish Government officials ahead of the announcement;
- We announced a consultation on non-mainland GB onshore wind projects and will be actively seeking the views of Scottish Government as part of the consultation exercise; and
- We further announced a call for evidence on fuelled technologies and again will be seeking the views of Scottish Government.