Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential increase in the manufacturing of non-degradable plastics from an increase in fracking in the UK.

Pursuant to the answer I gave the hon. Member on 31st May 2018 to Question 146306, the Department will not be making an assessment because natural gas and related bi-products produced from shale rock are indistinguishable from that produced from other hydrocarbon reservoirs.