Hi All
The UK now has TWO Government Departments involved with climate change.
This should double the inactivity.
Stephen
* Business <http://www.guardian.co.uk/business>
Lord Mandelson has set up rival 'energy and climate change unit'
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has launched a
section to "help create the conditions for UK business success through
key energy and climate change policies".
* Tim Webb <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/timwebb>
* guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>, Sunday 26 April 2009
16.28 BST
* Article history
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/26/mandelson-energy-climate-change-unit#history-byline>
****
**Lord Mandelson has set up an "energy
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/energy> and climate change
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change> unit" to lobby Ed
Miliband's new energy and climate change department on behalf of
business. Energy insiders said the move was further evidence of the peer
encroaching on Ed Miliband's brief in a bid to water down green policies
which may damage business.
According to Mandelson's Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform (BERR) website, the unit's aim is to "help create the
conditions for UK business success through key energy and climate change
policies by working closely with and influencing the Department of
Energy and Climate Change (DECC), other Whitehall
departments...minimising competitiveness impacts".
DECC was set up in October to bring the energy brief under one
department. Previously responsibility for energy policy was shared by
the old BERR department, representing energy companies' interests, and
the Department of Environment, frequently briefing against each other.
When it was set up, environmental groups and energy companies hailed the
move, hoping that the new department would signal more joined-up
government thinking and decisiveness over its energy policy.
But commenting on Berr's new energy and climate change unit, one of the
UK's top six energy suppliers said: "The establishment of an energy
department should have made life much simpler. But because of who the
business minister [Mandelson] is, Berr is still involved at lots of
different levels in the decision-making. It's hard to say that if you're
an outsider this is anything more than a mess."
Some civil servants working for DECC are also said to be uneasy about
the new department's role and influence within government. A memo from
Moira Wallace, DECC's permanent secretary, read out to staff recently
said that DECC role was as a "campaigning department". This description
"went down like a lead balloon", according to one civil servant present,
because of fears this was a tacit admission that DECC did not have the
influence to deliver policies, only to campaign for them.
Earlier this year MPs criticised DECC's slow reply to correspondence,
and Miliband admitted that some of his staff were not "adequately
prepared". Last week however, Miliband won plaudits for pushing through
tough environmental restrictions on new coal plants.
A BERR spokeswoman said it was not unusual for the department to set up
teams which covered issues like energy or transport which affect
businesses. Berr said in a statement: "DECC is now lead on energy and
climate change. All departments have a responsibility for climate change
and BERR continues to retain close links with companies both as
providers and users or energy, and to help business make the most of our
move towards a low carbon future."
--
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
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