Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Thursday 11th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

The hon. Gentleman is right. There is a new sense of ambition on the roll-out of smart meters because they offer huge potential. He is also right that that is complex. There is a trade-off to be made, and we are alive to that. My hon. Friend the Minister and our officials are working on the matter collaboratively with the industry, and I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we are making good progress.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

7. Whether he plans to amend the safety regime for offshore oil drilling following the publication of the analysis of the causes of the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)]

I am delighted to take part in the Greg Barker show, Mr Speaker.

Although DECC regulates environmental aspects of the oil and gas sector, the Health and Safety Executive is responsible for safety. We have taken further steps to strengthen our regulatory regime by doubling the number of environmental inspections, and we are satisfied that the regime is one of the most robust in the world. We have been looking closely at information from the Macondo incident and will continue to do so. When those investigations are complete, we will determine what more, if anything, needs to be done to reinforce our regulatory approach.

[Mr Hollobone]

My constituents in Kettering would like to know whether an incident such as happened in the gulf of Mexico could happen on the UK continental shelf, and if so, what the Government would be able to do about it.

[Charles Hendry]

One of the most immediate actions taken was to ensure that we have capping and containment devices—two containment devices that could deal very quickly with such an emergency are now based in the UK. We are also working with the industry on capping devices that would provide early, permanent solutions.