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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government is taking steps to simplify the mineral rights system within the UK.

Apart from oil, gas, coal, gold and silver, the state does not own mineral rights in the UK. The government does not have any current plans to amend the existing process of securing mineral rights, but also notes that this is a devolved matter, with different regulations in force in Northern Ireland as compared with other parts of the Union.

As part of our engagement activity supporting the development of our Critical Minerals Strategy, announced in the Net Zero Strategy, we will seek views from stakeholders on the effects of the current mineral rights system.