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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of recent earthquakes in Lancashire being caused by fracking.

The independent oil and gas regulator, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), is responsible for ensuring operators mitigate the risk of induced seismicity. The OGA is continually monitoring operations around the Preston New Road site to ensure they remain in line with Cuadrilla’s Hydraulic Fracture Plan, which was independently approved by the OGA and Environment Agency before the commencement of hydraulic fracturing operations.

We are absolutely committed to exploring shale gas extraction in a safe and science-led way. The Traffic Light System, which dictates the required response to seismic activity, has worked at the Preston New Road site in exactly the way that it was designed to. The very minor seismic events recorded at the Preston New Road site cannot be felt at the surface.