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Terrorism: Control Orders

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): My honourable friend the Minister for Security, Counterterrorism and Police (Tony McNulty) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am today informing Parliament of an ongoing police operation to locate a foreign national who is believed to have absconded from his control order on the night of 18 June. This individual was placed under a control order in November 2005.

Public safety is the top priority for the Government and the police. Locating this individual is an operational matter for the police, and an active investigation is under way. An anonymity order is in place and, on the operational advice of the police, the Government are not currently seeking to overturn it. This will be kept under review.

The Government have consistently made clear their view that control orders are less than 100 per cent effective in countering terrorism. As we have repeatedly made clear to the House, there are limitations and problems with the legal framework under which we must operate. The Government must operate under the constraints imposed by Parliament, the courts and the law. Control orders are not even our second—or third—best option for dealing with suspected terrorists. But under our existing laws they are as far as we can go.

In this case, the obligations included a tag, 14-hour curfew, a requirement to remain within a restricted area and, reside at a specified address, and restrictions on finance and communications. They are the most stringent obligations we could impose in this individual's case. He was previously subject to stricter controls but these had to be revised in light of last year's Court of Appeal judgment in this and other cases.

Unfortunately, within these limits, it is very difficult to prevent determined individuals from absconding. I am already appealing to the House of Lords on this and several other control order cases, concerning the interpretation of Article 5 of the ECHR (deprivation of liberty). We will consider other options—including derogation—if we have exhausted ways of overturning previous judgments on this issue.



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Transport: Renewable Fuel Obligation

Lord Bassam of Brighton: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Douglas Alexander) has made the following Ministerial Statement.

I have today published a consultation paper setting out the Government's draft proposals on the detail of the environmental and sustainability reporting requirements for the proposed renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO). Copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House. The consultation closes on 13 September 2007.

The consultation seeks views on matters such as:

the scope and format of monthly and annual reports; the verification requirements; and the default values to be used to calculate the carbon savings offered by different biofuels where specific data are not available.

Final decisions on the precise reporting requirements will be a matter for the Office of the Renewable Fuels Agency which will be established by the RTFO order as the administrator of the RTFO.

The RTFO's carbon and sustainability reporting requirements are a necessary first step on the road to linking the issue of certificates with mandatory carbon saving and sustainability requirements. In the light of the responses we have received to our earlier consultation on the design of the RTFO and the recent G8 communiqué which reinforces the need to establish international biofuel quality standards and avoid the possible negative side effects of biofuel development, I am today announcing that the Government:

aim to reward biofuels under the RTFO in accordance with the carbon savings that they offer from April 2010, provided that this is compatible with World Trade Organisation rules and EU Technical Standards requirements, and is consistent with the policy framework being developed by the European Commission as part of the review of the biofuels directive, and subject to consultation on its environmental and economic impacts;

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aim to reward biofuels under the RTFO only if the feedstocks from which they are produced meet appropriate sustainability standards from April 2011, subject to the same provisos and consultation as above and subject to the development of such standards for the relevant feedstocks;will continue to work closely with out partners at a national, European and international level to develop robust standards for ensuring the sustainability of biofuels and to ensure that early consideration is given to the WTO implications of the UK’s policy intentions;will ask the RTFO administrator to report to the Secretary of State every three months on the effectiveness of the RTFO's environmental reporting mechanisms and on the carbon and sustainability effects of the RTFO. The Government will keep the RTFO under review in the light of these reports;intend to set stretching indicative targets for the level of carbon and sustainability performance expected from all transport fuel suppliers claiming certificates for biofuels in the early years of the RTFO. These targets, which are included in the consultation paper we are publishing today, cover: the level of greenhouse gas savings that we expect to see from the biofuels used to meet the RTFO; the proportion of those biofuels that we expect to come from feedstocks grown to recognised sustainability standards; and the amount of specific information that we expect to be included in sustainability reports; andhave asked the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) to explore the feasibility of a voluntary labelling scheme to allow responsible retailers to show that their biofuels are genuinely sustainable. Any scheme would need to be compatible with WTO rules.

Moving to mandatory carbon saving and sustainability requirements would require changes to the RTFO order which, under the Energy Act 2004, would be subject to consultation.

The Government will make a further announcement in due course on how they intend to respond to the other issues that stakeholders have raised in response to the February 2007 consultation on the design and future evolution of the RTFO.

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