On 17th October 2016, the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee was incorporated into the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. Previously known as the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee will now oversee the Government’s energy brief as well.
This merging of the Committees reflects wider changes which took place at Whitehall earlier this year. In July 2016, Prime Minister Teresa May formed the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which encompassed the work of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The creation of BEIS, which saw the closure of DECC, brings together responsibilities for business, industrial strategy, science, innovation, energy, and climate change all under one department.
The administration, expenditure and policy of BEIS and the Department’s associated public bodies will be examined by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee. It will be the Committee’s responsibility to analyse and evaluate the Government’s approach to business policy and consumer protection, energy and climate change, and industrial strategy.
Chairman of the BEIS Committee is Iain Wright. “Energy and climate change will be central to the work of the BEIS Committee and I’m personally delighted that the committee is now responsible for scrutinising policy in this area,” says Iain. “As a Committee, we will be determined to hold the Government to account in their efforts to develop a low-carbon industrial strategy, tackle climate change, and to secure reliable, clean and affordable energy.”
Members of the heating industry will be interested to see what impact this departmental merge will have on the energy sector. Whereas previously, energy and climate change policy was examined by a specific committee, this area of government policy will now fall under the wider realm of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and its Committee.
For more information on the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, please click here.