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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Written Ministerial Statement of 25 January 2018 on energy policy, HCWS428, if he will ask the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to assess the financial resilience of Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, including its ability to fund decommissioning costs, as part of the Government's consideration of that company's application for consent to fracture its first horizontal well at Preston New Road, Lancashire; and if he will make a statement.

As a matter of policy, and as set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 25 January 2018, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will seek an independent assessment of a company’s financial resilience before Hydraulic Fracture Consent is granted. If or when an application for Hydraulic Fracture Consent is received from Cuadrilla, the Secretary of State will ask for an assessment of the company’s financial resilience.