Written question asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative) on Thursday, 5 February 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 February 2015. It was answered by Matt Hancock (Conservative) on Monday, 23 February 2015 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Fracking

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if his Department will exercise the precautionary principle for each application for a licence to frack hydraulically for shale gas.

Answer: The licences do not give permission for any operation, including hydraulic fracturing. I can confirm that we will require a hydraulic fracturing plan to be submitted for any fracturing of shale, which must be approved by DECC before the fracturing operations commence. We have one of the most robust regulatory systems in the world for shale gas, including a traffic light system to measure seismic activity to allow operations to be suspended if activity is detected above a defined level.

Secondary information