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 improve gas storage capacity in the UK.

Energy Security is a priority for this government. Gas storage has been an effective source of system flexibility.

The Government works with storage operators, as well as the regulatory community, to explore options around the role storage can play in supporting future gas system resilience.

The Government welcomes the decision taken by Centrica to reopen the Rough gas storage site at its own cost and has engaged with the company to understand its plans. Rough, at current capacity, will provide an approximately 50% increase in British gas storage capacity over this winter.