§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement listing his Department's role and its spending on activities concerned with the North sea gas and oil industry in Suffolk and Norfolk for each of the past 10 years; and what his forward plans are for the next three years.
§ Mr. MoynihanMy Department's Report to Parliament of April this year on the "Development of the Oil and Gas Resources of the United Kingdom", also known as the "brown book", is available in the House of Commons Library. I was pleased to be able to record encouragingly high levels of activity. The breakdown of activity affecting Suffolk and Norfolk is not readily available, although, my Department's offshore supplies office has funded research and development projects with five different contractors in Suffolk and Norfolk in the past 10 years. Great Yarmouth is an important supply centre for the southern basin and Bacton is an important gas terminal, both producing economic and employment benefits to the region. Details of producing fields linked by pipeline to Bacton are included in table 11(b) of the report.