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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the workforce capacity of the Office for Nuclear Regulation to undertake the safeguarding programmes currently undertaken by Eurtatom.

The Department is working closely with the Office for Nuclear Regulation to ensure that they will be in a position to take on the role and responsibilities required to help ensure the UK’s domestic civil nuclear safeguards regime meets international safeguards and nuclear non-proliferation standards upon leaving Euratom. The Office for Nuclear Regulation are already recruiting inspectors and increasing their capacity to carry out this new role, and we are confident that adequate capacity will be in place following withdrawal from Euratom.