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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the risk posed by coal tips and other mining spoil in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.

The Coal Authority, one of BEIS’s Partner Organisations, owns and manages 40 coal tips across the United Kingdom. Full details of the regulatory of inspections for each site, and when they were last inspected, can be found on the GOV.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disused-colliery-tips-owned-and-inspected-by-the-coal-authority/disused-colliery-tips-managed-by-the-coal-authority-including-location-and-inspection-frequency--2.

The vast majority of coal tips are under private or Local Authority ownership.

Following the Tylorstown slip in Wales in February 2020, the Coal Authority has undertaken work for the Welsh Government to identify the location and ownership of all the coal tips in Wales. Local authorities in England and Scotland were asked to check any tips they owned and report any concerns. No concerns were reported. There are no coal tips in Northern Ireland.