To ask the Secretary of State for Energy, pursuant to his answer of 14 June, Official Report, column 350, to the hon. Member for Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes), if he will make a statement on further monitoring of the oil rig abandonment programme.

I shall shortly be writing to Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd. and its co-venturers to inform them about further work they will be required to carry out under the abandonment programme for Piper Alpha. When I have done so, I will inform the House.