Mr. Jonathan Church:

Yes, I shall try to do that. Outlining the role of local authorities is a difficult question to answer. In the UK I have spoken to a number of people about how the UK Act is implemented and whether it should, as it were, try to reach down to local authority level because, clearly, what happens at local authority level is hugely important, as the Deputy Sherlock mentioned in terms of, most obviously, housing and other kinds of infrastructure as well. At the same time it is very difficult to draw a direct line from the kinds of emissions that are needed nationwide to any particular local authority so I do not have a firm view on that. I would just say that there is a lot here, again to go back to Dr. Muinzer's comment about heavily packing the law. I wonder whether it might be possible in a more lean way to somehow require that local authority plans, as they exist, bs in some sense compliant with the overall duties in the Act rather than again trying to come up with new plans at local authority level that then have to interact with existing planning structures at local level. That could, potentially, get quite complicated. It is important that, in a sense, the law is somehow felt at local level.

On the advisory council point, there are certain things we can do in terms of giving the advisory council a greater role. For example, in requiring government to respond to the advisory council's annual report or, potentially, allowing the advisory council to raise the alarm in some way. The success of the Committee on Climate Change in the UK - and Deputy Sherlock is right to suggest that it has been and continues to be seen as a real success - is largely down to the people who have been on that committee. I refer to the high-quality work of the secretariat, the non-political nature of the people on the body, and the sensitive way in which those on the committee, including the Chair, have been able to take the right line. Inevitably, there are political questions about how far one pushes it or how far one pushes there. It is a testament to the people who have been on that committee, and how they have conducted themselves, that the CCC is seen as so authoritative across the board. That probably goes as much to getting the right structures in place, having independent funding, having enough money to attract the best people to be on the secretariat and also being quite careful and cautious to have non-political experts on the committee. For example, in the UK Lord Deben, has been the Chair for recent years and is a retired Conservative environment Minister of State. That is a very good political vantage point to be able to stand in and give the best picture of the committee's work.