Leader: BEIS has quickly got down to business

BEIS is getting busy – and its energy remit has been front and centre of its biggest moves so far, for better or worse.

Firstly, delaying and, finally, approving the controversial Hinkley Point C project turned heads and put the department in the national spotlight. Though ostensibly driven by Theresa May’s own ­security concerns, the decision gives us an early indication of what the department’s take on industrial strategy is going to look like with regards to critical infrastructure investments. It’s a much more ­circumspect approach than the previous administration supported (see Hinkley analysis, p18).

While Hinkley grabbed the headlines, BEIS got on with the process of merging its two former departments, a task that has brought about the demise of the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC). This move was to be expected – it is normal for departments, even those with a broad remit, to support just one select committee, and BEIS will adopt that of the former BIS. Nevertheless, some ECCC enthusiasts had hoped the group would survive in some form.

No such luck. As of 17 October, the ECCC will be no more. Any work it was undertaking – including two investigations into the impacts of Brexit on energy policy and climate change policy – will be wrapped up early and the committee will publish a summary report to express its views on the key issues, as it sees them, which continue to merit scrutiny.

Iain Wright, the Labour MP for Hartlepool and chairman of the existing BIS select committee, will take command of the new BEIS group and has vowed that “energy and climate change will be front and centre of committee work”. This will be welcome news to those who feared the creation of BEIS would inevitably sideline climate change concerns or cause them to play second fiddle to business interests. How Wright, who is also a former shadow business minister, will balance the emphasis of the BEIS committee’s work remains to be seen, however.

Other recent action from BEIS has seen it express concerns regarding the profitability of National Grid’s new contracts for energy storage providers and tweak the terms of CfDs. Next up, we can expect a response to the first report of the Fuel Poverty Committee and the publication of its call for evidence on smart systems.