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Oil and Gas

Obviously, I did not write that letter, because I was not a Minister in January—the hon. Gentleman will no doubt say that that is a shame. The one-to-one meetings are a result of the engagement that began with those letters and they are continuing. We are keen to ensure that the industry understands exactly how the Secretary of State would respond if asked to use his powers. The hon. Gentleman and my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood are absolutely right that no one has yet asked him to exercise his powers, and we all understand the pressures that mean that people would not want to ask. Nevertheless, we have those powers. The Secretary of State's previous guidance was quite helpful in terms of the charging activities of those who give access to infrastructure. If new obstacles are arising, we will be happy to look at ways of ensuring that people understand how the Secretary of State would approach the issue. At the moment, however, the meetings are going extremely well, and a further understanding between us and the industry may emerge as a result. I hope that that is helpful to the hon. Gentleman. We hope that, as a result of our frank discussions with infrastructure owners, the industry can use the code of practice principles to ensure that nobody needs to come to the Secretary of State, but we stand ready if somebody does. For the common good of maximising all our reserves, it is vital that smaller developments within the economic reach of existing pipelines are not stranded because they cannot obtain access, and we will be keeping a close eye on progress to ensure that that does not happen.