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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of requiring shale gas companies to put aside a bond to pay for householders’ property repairs, resultant from exploration and extraction.

As part of the Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA) assessment of an application for hydraulic fracturing operations, the OGA requires the operator to have in place the necessary funds or an insurance policy (including third-party liability) that will cover unforeseen events.