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Petroleum Licensing
Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he will announce the licences for blocks under the seventh landward licensing round. [21190]
Mr. Page: Following my announcement to the House on 18 July 1995, Official Report, column 1210, inviting applications under the seventh round of landward petroleum licensing, I am pleased to announce that the applications have now been assessed and I have decided to award 22 new licences for landward oil and gas exploration covering 74 blocks.
The majority of the awards are in the east midlands and Lincolnshire basin in which a number of oil and gas discoveries have been made over many years. Other awards have been made in less well-established areas including south Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.
New exploration concepts offered by companies in their applications should result in a significant increase in the exploration activity on land in Great Britain. A quarter of the applications were based on gas from coal and involve the exploitation of conventional coal bed methane, gob gas--gas collecting in old mines from de-stressed coals--and the gas which is currently vented to the atmosphere from abandoned mines for safety purposes.
I have tried to strike a balance in the wards across the round as a whole to ensure that both conventional and coal bed methane resources are thoroughly explored and that the optimum exploitation of hydrocarbon resources will result.
Some of the licences awarded are for blocks that straddle land and sea boundaries. I have decided to apply strict conditions in these cases to exclude any oil and gas
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activity below the low-water mark. Activities above the low-water mark require planning permission which will take account of any environmental impact.
Although no near shore oil and gas activity has been licensed in this round, should interest be expressed in the watery areas in future licensing rounds, I will look again at the possibility of licensing them subject to satisfactory arrangements being put in place for protecting the interests of other users of the sea and the environment.
I was very impressed with the quality of the applications as well as their innovative and considered approach to oil and gas exploration and development. This is an encouraging outcome in the first landward petroleum licensing round to be held for three years. It is also the first landward round to allow companies to apply for the new unified petroleum exploration and development licence that covers the full life cycle of any hydrocarbon discovery.
Decisions about the awards were made on the basis of the technical work programmes offered by each applicant together with their evaluation of the exploration opportunities. I also took into account environmental and financial factors.
The onshore oil and gas industry has intended to be overshadowed by the huge successes in the North sea and now west of Shetland. Nevertheless, the onshore industry has a continuing and important role to play in the UK's energy sector, particularly in the light of the opportunities from the increasingly deregulated markets for gas and electricity. We also need the flexibility and freshness of approach that small companies bring to enhance the UK's ability to meet its energy needs.
These licence awards indicate the strong interest in petroleum exploration on land and underscore the broad range of licence opportunities available to the oil and gas industry across the whole of Great Britain and the United Kingdom continental shelf. I intend to build on this interest by holding landward rounds on a regular basis in future.
I will place copies of this announcement in the Libraries of both Houses.
Mrs. Roche:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he met or spoke by telephone to the Deputy Prime Minister on 28 February to discuss whether the contracting out of Insolvency Service casework should proceed. [19580]
Mr. Lang
[holding answer 11 March 1996]: Any discussions between Ministers are confidential.
Mr. Morgan:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the cost of market-testing and benchmarking exercises within Companies House; and if he will estimate the efficiency savings arising from such exercises. [20559]
Mr. Oppenheim
[holding answer 13 March 1996]: It will not be possible to determine the costs and savings
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of the Companies House contracting-out programme until the programme has been completed.
Mr. Hardy:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will reconsider the approval of the importing and use of orimulsion for the purpose of electricity generation. [20370]
Mr. Page
[holding answer 13 March 1996]: No. The choice of fuel to be used in a power station is a commercial matter for the company concerned subject to the operation of the station being able to satisfy the requirements of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution.
Mr. Redmond:
To ask the Attorney-General how many cases have been referred by Doncaster police to the Crown Prosecution Service in each of the last four years; how many have been prosecuted; and how many have been successful. [19643]
The Attorney-General:
Cases from the Doncaster police are dealt with by the South Yorkshire branch of the Crown Prosecution Service. That branch also deals with cases referred to it from other divisions of the South Yorkshire police force and, as statistics are kept on a branch basis only, it would not normally be possible to separate the figures for one police division from others serving the same branch. Exceptionally, I am able to provide figures for the last two calender years. Figures for the years 1992 and 1993 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The figures shown in the tables represent the number of cases received from the police and the number of defendants whose case proceeded to a hearing in magistrates courts and in the Crown court during the calendar years 1994 and 1995 and, of those, the proportion who were convicted. Convictions are inclusive of guilty pleas, as well as of contested hearings.
In the magistrates court, table 1 shows:
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the number of defendants whose case was received by the CPS and the number whose case was finalised;
of defendants finalised, the number whose case was referred to the CPS for pre-charge advice, and the number of other, non-criminal, proceedings--such as forfeiture proceedings under the Obscene Publications Acts;
Table 2 shows:
defendants whose case was not proceeded with, divided into cases where the prosecution was dropped and cases which could not proceed and were written off--for example, because the defendant had died, or could not be traced.
Table 3 shows:
of those cases proceeded with, the number of: defendants bound over to keep the peace; defendants cases dealt with summarily by hearings in the magistrates court; defendants committed for trial to the Crown court; and defendants whose case was discharged at committal.
Table 4 shows:
In the Crown court, table 5 shows:
of the cases heard in the magistrates court, the number of defendants convicted and the number acquitted. The sum of the two figures exceeds the number shown in table 3 for cases proceeding to a hearing because in cases where a defendant enters mixed pleas--guilty to some charges and not guilty to others--and is subsequently acquitted on those charges to which he pleaded not guilty, the Crown Prosecution Service counts the result as both a conviction and an acquittal or two convictions when the not guilty plea is proved. The same case may, therefore, count amongst the figures for convictions and those for acquittals.
Table 6 shows:
the number of defendants whose case was received and the number finalised. Of the number of defendants cases finalised, the number dealt with by way of appeal from the magistrates court or committed to the Crown court for sentence.
of defendants' cases not proceeded with, divided into those in which no evidence was offered before the jury was sworn--prosecution dropped--and those which could not proceed and were written off--for example, because the defendant had died, could not be traced by the police or had been found unfit to plead.
Table 7 shows:
Table 8 shows:
the number of defendants' cases proceeded with divided into the number bound over to keep the peace and the number heard in the Crown court.
of the defendants' cases heard in the Crown court, the number which resulted in convictions and the number of acquittals. The sum of these figures is greater than the figure shown in table 7 for cases proceeding to a hearing for the same reason as set out above for cases in the magistrates court.
Of which
Received Finalised Pre-charge advice Per cent. Other proceedings Per cent.
1994 9,368 9,105 1,182 13.0 26 0.3
1995 8,360 8,384 523 6.2 63 0.8
Prosecution dropped Per cent. Written off Per cent.
1994 1,003 12.7 390 4.9
1995 1,130 14.5 284 3.6
Bind over Per cent. Hearings in the Magistrates' Court Per cent. Committed to Crown Court Per cent. Committal discharged Per cent.
1994 166 2.1 5,595 70.8 726 9.2 17 0.2
1995 187 2.4 5,557 71.3 633 8.1 7 0.1
Convicted Per cent. Acquitted Per cent.
1994 5,519 98.3 94 1.7
1995 5,462 98.1 104 1.9
of which
Receipts Finalised Appeals and committals for sentence Per cent.
1994 936 869 122 14.0
1995 780 878 131 14.9
Prosecution dropped Per cent. Written off Per cent.
1994 46 6.2 0 0.0
1995 78 10.4 0 0.0
Bind over Per cent. Hearings Per cent.
1994 9 1.2 692 92.6
1995 27 3.6 642 85.9
Convicted Per cent. Acquitted Per cent.
1994 696 96.0 29 4.0
1995 636 95.6 29 4.4
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