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 made an assessment of the potential effect on the oil and gas industry of the UK exiting the single market.

The Government is undertaking a wide range of ongoing analysis in support of our EU exit negotiations and preparations. For example, a sector report on oil and fossil fuel production produced by the Department for the House of Commons Committee on Exiting the European Union was published by the Committee in December 2017: https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/exiting-the-european-union-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/department-sectoral-analyses-17-19/publications/.

Ministers have a specific responsibility, which Parliament has endorsed, not to release information that would undermine our negotiating position.

The Government engages with oil and gas businesses and stakeholders on a regular basis, helping to ensure that the views of the offshore oil and gas industry are represented and will continue to do so as EU exit negotiations develop.