Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions his Department has had with counterparts in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the regulation of maintenance backlogs in the offshore oil and gas sector since January 2020.

Since January 2020, officials at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have held regular discussions on the regulation of maintenance backlogs with their counterparts at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). I have been informed by HSE that senior managers at HSE and BEIS work together through attending formal meetings and forums including those involving other North Sea regulators such as the North Sea Transition Authority to maintain a strategic focus on reduction of maintenance backlogs by duty holders.