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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people are able to access fuel for their cars.

The temporary reduction to the availability of fuel in September was driven by a sudden increase in demand. There was never a national shortage of fuel, as the industry made clear. Fuel supplies have now returned to normal levels.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has taken three main steps to assist industry to return forecourt stocks to normal levels:

• A temporary exemption of industry from the Competition Act 1998 for the purpose of sharing information and optimising supply in the event of a disruption (Downstream Oil Protocol).

• Deploying the Department’s Reserve Tanker Fleet of fuel tanker vehicles to provide additional capacity to industry; 37 tankers have been made available to hauliers.

• Working with the Armed Forces to make fuel deliveries; 248 trained Military drivers, along with other support staff, have been made available to hauliers.