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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in the Health and Safety Executive have worked on processing safety case assessments from installation operators in the oil and gas industry in each of the last five years.

Justin Tomlinson

A part of the work of all inspectors and support staff working on offshore issues involves the processing of Offshore Safety Cases; scientists and others working at the Health and Safety Laboratories also contribute. From 2010 onwards representative annual offshore staffing levels were 112; 115; 116; 129 and 131. Current numbers for 2015 -16 are 148

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many improvement notices have been issued by Health and Safety Executive inspectors to operators of offshore oil and gas installations in 2015-16; and what proportion of those notices were issued in response to maintenance matters.

Justin Tomlinson

Twenty three Improvement Notices have been issued to offshore operators in the period April 15 to date. Of these, four were related to maintenance.

Please note that the rationale used for answering the question is as follows:

• The question specifies Improvement Notices, and so Prohibition Notices have not been considered;
• The total includes all notices served in respect of the offshore oil and gas industry, and includes pipelines and diving where relevant;
• Offshore windfarms, withdrawn notices, and notices currently under appeal, or where an appeal has been upheld have been excluded;
• Maintenance has been taken to include notices in relation to maintenance systems, failures to maintain (includes work equipment and fabric integrity), and maintenance backlogs (generally criteria for deferring maintenance of Safety Critical Elements etc);

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many safety case assessments the Health and Safety Executive has received from installation operators in the oil and gas sector in each of the last three years; and what the rate of compliance of that sector is with the provision of the EU Directive on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations.

Justin Tomlinson

HSE received Safety Case submissions from UK Continental Shelf oil and gas installation operators as follows: 2012 – 187; 2013 – 183; 2014 – 223; 2015 (to 11/11/2015) – 223. These figures include submissions required by statute for new installations, and material changes or summaries of thorough reviews of existing safety cases.

The 223 submissions received so far in 2015 include 53 cases required for compliance with the provisions of the EU Directive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions Health and Safety Executive inspectors from the Energy Division and predecessor divisions issued improvement notices to operators of offshore oil and gas installations in each year since 2005-06; and what proportion of those notices were served in relation to maintenance issues in each such year.

Justin Tomlinson

The number of Improvement Notices served on offshore operators by Energy Division and predecessor divisions in each year since 2005/6 comprises:

Please note that the rationale used for answering the question is as follows:

• The question specifies Improvement Notices, and so Prohibition Notices have not been considered;
• The total includes all notices served in respect of the offshore oil and gas industry, and includes pipelines and diving where relevant;
• Offshore windfarms, withdrawn notices, and notices currently under appeal, or where an appeal has been upheld have been excluded;
• Maintenance has been taken to include notices in relation to maintenance systems, failures to maintain (includes work equipment and fabric integrity), and maintenance backlogs (generally criteria for deferring maintenance of Safety Critical Elements etc);