§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times her Department's personnel in the Oil and Gas Directorate have travelled from London to Aberdeen to meet representatives of the oil and gas industry in each year since 1994; and how much the travel costs were for these meetings. [56331]
§ Mr. Wilson[holding answer 14 May 2002]: The Department does not keep records in a form that will enable it to provide an answer to this question without incurring a disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of her Department's Oil and Gas Directorate posts have been relocated from Aberdeen to London since 1997, broken down by grade. [56328]
§ Mr. Wilson[holding answer 14 May 2002]: There have been changes in organisation and responsibilities at various times between 1997 and the present. No Oil and Gas Directorate posts have been relocated from Aberdeen to London.
§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the oil and gas fields in the UK Continental Shelf which are overseen from(a) the London office of the Oil and Gas Directorate and (b) the Aberdeen office of the Oil and Gas Directorate; and if she will list the transfer of responsibilities between Aberdeen and London for overseeing quadrants and blocks of the North sea that have taken place since 1994. [56330]
§ Mr. Wilson[holding answer 14 May 2002]: It is not possible to quantify the transfer of responsibilities between London and Aberdeen since 1994, but broadly the Aberdeen team has continued to handle fields where operators have their production offices based in Aberdeen. Since 1994, with more companies relocating to Aberdeen from the south-east, there has been an incremental increase in the number of fields transferred to Aberdeen team.