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1381828

	registered interest
	date	24/11/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Health and Safety Executive’s Energy Division on the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on backlogs of safety critical maintenance work on oil and gas installations on the UK Continental Shelf; and if she will list any recent actions that the HSE has taken against duty holders in this area.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	80980
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/11/2021 answer text <p>No recent discussions have taken place between the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Energy Division on this specific issue. Recognising the potential impact of the pandemic in 2020, HSE wrote to production installation duty holders with a detailed question set on maintenance and inspection backlogs, in order to evaluate and quantify the specific impact of pandemic-related down-manning on backlog. HSE’s analysis of the data provided in response to its question set indicated an increase in backlogs. This was because duty holders had postponed maintenance shutdowns because their approach to managing the risk of COVID infection required reduced manning levels that were insufficient to undertake the shutdowns.</p><p> </p><p>HSE took the following steps:</p><p>(i) Identified at the outset of the pandemic that maintenance would be affected and carried out inspections using the existing ‘<em>Maintenance management’</em> Inspection Guide, which HSE developed in 2014 specifically to address backlogs.</p><p>(ii) Worked with duty holders to look at alternative ways of carrying out the work, such as mini shutdowns and the use of “flotels” and walk-to-work vessels etc.</p><p>(iii) Set up a working group with Oil &amp; Gas UK and its members to specifically look at addressing the backlog issue.</p><p>(iv) Took enforcement action where backlogs were not being managed safely.</p><p>(v) Set up a program of Process Safety Leadership inspections starting in Q1 2022, of which asset integrity and maintenance backlog will form a key component.</p><p>(vi) Worked with senior industry integrity personnel in the Asset Integrity Task Group to highlight and address the issue.</p><p>(vii) Repeating the data gathering exercise in Q1 2022 to check that duty holders are managing their backlogs as they stated and to take enforcement action if they are not.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 29/11/2021 18:08:17 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1381829

	registered interest
	date	24/11/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: North Sea
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of redundancies proposed by the PBS consortium on the contract with TotalEnergies on offshore safety standards in the North Sea.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	80981
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/12/2021 answer text <p>The UK Continental Shelf (UKSC) safety case regime requires Total to demonstrate to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that it can comply with the offshore legislation. Total has accepted safety cases for all its offshore installations and HSE has a targeted intervention plan which involves the testing of assertions made in safety cases. Total must continue to demonstrate that it is operating in compliance with the accepted safety case in the event of changing its contractors or when contractors themselves make changes, such as decreasing staff numbers etc.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 02/12/2021 10:51:22 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1381831

	registered interest
	date	24/11/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Health and Safety
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the level of (a) safety critical and (b) environmental maintenance backlogs in the offshore oil and gas industry since January 2019 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	80982
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2021 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uses its Offshore Safety and Environmental Critical Element (SECE) Management and Verification Inspection Guide when inspecting duty holder compliance in this subject. Maintenance backlogs are covered by the Guide and attract a score. The scores have both numeric and descriptive classifications: unacceptable (60), very poor (50), poor (40), broadly compliant (30), fully compliant (20) and exemplary (10).</p><p> </p><p>In 2019, HSE completed 26 SECE inspections and scored 1 x very poor, 9 x poor, 15 x broadly compliant and 1 x fully compliant. In 2020, there were 22 inspections with 4 x poor, 16 x broadly compliant and 2 x fully compliant scores. Since January 2021, there have been 19 inspections with 3 x poor and 16 x broadly compliant scores. Whenever HSE finds examples of non-compliance, they are raised as issues with the duty holder in a letter, and in some cases a notice. These are then monitored to ensure compliance by the due date.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising the potential impact of the pandemic in 2020, HSE wrote to production installation duty holders with a detailed question set on maintenance and inspection backlogs, which includes several questions on SECE management. This has enabled HSE to assess SECE backlog management for a representative sample of UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) production duty holders. HSE will use the question set again from the start of 2022 as part of its ongoing intervention targeting procedure so that those duty holders that appear not to be managing their SECE backlog effectively can be prioritised for inspection.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 03/12/2021 14:59:52 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1387859

	registered interest
	date	14/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many planned maintenance shutdowns there were on oil and gas installations on the UK Continental Shelf in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	92926
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2022 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not routinely collect information on planned maintenance shutdowns on a yearly basis. There is no legal duty for operators on the UK Continental Shelf to inform HSE of this information, however it is held at a company level.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 05/01/2022 12:08:20 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1388608

	registered interest
	date	16/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2021 to Question 80980 on Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf, if she will provide a copy of the HSE’s detailed questions to production installation duty holders regarding the specific impact of pandemic-related down-manning on maintenance and inspection backlogs.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	94352
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2022 answer text <p>A copy of the Health and Safety Executive’s Question Set, as referred to in the answer to Question 80980, is attached.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 05/01/2022 18:05:12 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith attachment 1 file name HSE Pandemic Maintenance Backlog Questions.pdf title HSE Pandemic Maintenance Backlog Questions
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1388609

	registered interest
	date	16/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2021 to Question 80980 on Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf, what the percentage increase was in the maintenance backlogs based on the data provided to the HSE.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	94353
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>The data provided to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) indicates that there has been a distinct increasing trend in maintenance backlogs. Operators record and classify their maintenance backlog figures according to their own safety management systems. There is no legal requirement for operators to be record it in a particular way. This means that it is difficult and potentially misleading to compare the maintenance figures for different operators in absolute terms. What is clear though is that there is a clear trend of an increase in maintenance backlog among UKCS operators. HSE’s focus is on how effectively operators risk manage their backlogs until they have dealt with them.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 12/01/2022 17:48:43 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1388610

	registered interest
	date	16/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2021 to Question 80980 on Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf, what steps she is taking to ensure that staffing levels are not reduced below that required to safely operate installations on the UKCS.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	94354
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>The UKCS safety case regime requires all offshore duty holders to demonstrate to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) they can comply with safety legislation. Every UKCS offshore installation has an accepted safety case. HSE has a targeted intervention plan which involves testing the assertions made in safety cases. All duty holders must continue to demonstrate they are operating in compliance with their accepted safety case, and this includes the potential impact of reducing personnel numbers offshore for whatever reason. HSE’s interventions have covered duty holders’ continued ability to comply with legal requirements irrespective of whatever changes in offshore personnel levels they make.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 11/01/2022 14:29:22 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1388611

	registered interest
	date	16/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2021 to Question 80980 on Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf, if she will provide the duty holders that worked with HSE on alternative ways of carrying out safety critical maintenance work; and what the outcomes were of that work.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	94355
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>Although many duty holders undertook extended maintenance shutdowns in 2021, these were often not enough to eliminate the backlog issues. As well as through its day-to-day regulatory activities, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also impacts on offshore safety through membership of working groups. One of these is the Asset Integrity Task Group (AITG). AITG members include Apache, BP, CNOOC, CNR, Repsol Sinopec, TAQA as well as the Oil and Gas Authority and Oil and Gas UK. The AITG’s current key focus relates to addressing asset integrity issues, including maintenance backlog, through a more effective focus on Process Safety Leadership. The offshore industry signed up to improving its approach to Process Safety Leadership at the Oil and Gas UK’s Health &amp; Safety Conference in 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Outcomes of HSE’s working on alternative means than traditional shutdowns to address maintenance backlogs, include the recognition by industry that a move towards more sustained asset integrity campaigns for late life installations is required. Potential solutions include increasing the size of the offshore workforce using flotels or jack-up drilling rigs in accommodation mode alongside production installations and more frequent maintenance campaigns; more extended shutdowns and Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSOs) being taken off station for extensive maintenance that cannot be done offshore.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 12/01/2022 11:38:32 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1388612

	registered interest
	date	16/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2021 to Question 80980 on Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf, if she will publish the types of enforcement action the HSE took where backlogs were not being manged safely; and if she will provide to which installations those actions applied.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	94356
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>HSE does not record its enforcement actions specifically in relation to “maintenance backlogs”. A search of HSE’s database has revealed that since the start of the initial pandemic lockdown in March 2020, there have been 112 interventions that have looked at maintenance management, including backlog, and have resulted in enforcement action in the form of letters and notices. A table showing the actions in relation to installations and their duty holders is attached.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 12/01/2022 11:14:32 question first ministerially corrected 12/01/2022 16:57:58 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith attachment 1 file name 94356 attachment.pdf title Attachment for 94356 previous answer version 42538 answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1388613

	registered interest
	date	16/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Health and Safety Executive
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the annual (a) staffing and (b) resource level was in the HSE Energy Division in each year since 2016 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	94357
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>The annual staffing in the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Energy Division and the full-time equivalent number of personnel engaged in Offshore regulation is as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>.</p></td><td><p><strong>April 2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>April 2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>April 2018</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>April 2019</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>April 2020</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>April 2021</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Headcount</strong></p></td><td><p>221</p></td><td><p>201</p></td><td><p>193</p></td><td><p>190</p></td><td><p>197</p></td><td><p>187</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Full-Time Equivalent</strong></p></td><td><p>201.7</p></td><td><p>190.9</p></td><td><p>186.1</p></td><td><p>183.6</p></td><td><p>189.8</p></td><td><p>179.4</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Due to changes in HSE’s IT and reporting systems over time, the 2016 figures were calculated in a different way from the subsequent years and so may not represent a like-for-like comparison.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 12/01/2022 17:52:21 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham