§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government under what jurisdictions for criminal and civil purposes the oil extraction and storage platforms, which are to be built in the North Sea, will come.
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORT-FOLIO (LORD DRUMALBYN)My Lords, oil installations erected in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea will be subject to United Kingdom civil and criminal law. Orders in Council have been made dividing the North Sea into areas to which English law or Scottish law applies as appropriate. Installations located in sectors other than the United Kingdom are subject to the jurisdiction of the appropriate coastal State.