Petrol Forecourts Ms Walley To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many operable petrol forecourts there were in the UK (a) in 1997, (b) in 2001 and (c) on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many she expects to be operating in 2006. [113279] Mr. Wilson The Institute of Petroleum's (IP) annual "Retail Survey" has provided the following data on the number of retail petrol filling stations in the UK: ------------- |End of year| ------------- |1997 | ------------- |2000 | ------------- |2001 | ------------- |2002 | ------------- The Department has not estimated the number of sites that will be operating in 2006.