Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) undertaken on the amount of coal resources in Wales available using gasification technology.

The Department has not commissioned any recent research on coal resources in Wales available using gasification technology. There are currently two conditional underground coal gasification licences in Wales, one in the Dee Estuary, the other in the Loughor Estuary and both issued to Cluff Natural Resources plc by one of DECC’s non-departmental public bodies, the Coal Authority.