Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has instructed the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to begin conducting financial resilience tests on Cuadrilla Bowland Ltd; and if he will publish the (a) details of those tests and (b) timetable for their completion.
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 25 January 2018 that we will look at the financial resilience of all companies wishing to carry out hydraulic fracturing operations alongside their application for Hydraulic Fracturing Consent.
Therefore I have asked the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to conduct a financial resilience assessment of Cuadrilla as part of their application for Hydraulic Fracturing Consent. The details and timetable for the completion of the assessment are a matter for the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.