Availability and affordability of housing in rural and urban areas and the proportion of people who are in need of permanent accommodation.

Metadata

Indicators:

• house building per 1,000 population
• net additions to housing stock
• homeless and in priority need per 1,000 households
• people in temporary accommodation per 1,000 households
• ratio of lower quartile house prices to lower quartile earnings

Data source: Department for Communities and Local Government

Coverage: England

Rural classification used: Local Authority Rural-Urban Classification

Next release date: tbc

Additional information:

• Dwelling stock statistics
• House building statistics

This guidance aims to provide help for those operating or regulating activities that are covered by the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2012.

This guidance applies to Phase III of the european union emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) only (which commences on 1 January 2013) and excludes aviation, for which there is separate guidance.

To ensure this guidance is current and up to date, it will be updated from time to time.

The total factor productivity of the United Kingdom food chain is examined within the four main food industry sectors and compared to the wider economy. Total factor productivity relates the volume of output to the volume of labour, capital and purchases, and so can provide a measure of efficiency. Total factor productivity provides a comprehensive picture of growth. Presented as an index, it relates major inputs of labour, intermediate purchases and capital consumption to outputs (turnover). There is a practical upper limit on the quantity of food that people in the UK want to consume but increases in outputs can be achieved by increases in the quality of foods (value added) and by increases in exports. Increases in total factor productivity can be achieved through increases in outputs and/or by reductions in inputs.

Next update: see the Statistics release calendar

Brokerage operates as a fortnightly anonymous auction where providers of the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) can sell ‘lots’ of ECO Carbon Saving Obligation, ECO Carbon Saving Communities and ECO Affordable Warmth, to energy companies in return for ECO subsidy.

The results from auctions 1 (15 January 2013) to 44 (23 September 2014) and 77 (9 February 2016) onwards show the number of lots submitted. However the results from auctions 45 (7 October 2014) to 76 (26 January 2016), reflect the number of bids submitted.

Overview

The decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations and pipelines on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) is controlled through the Petroleum Act 1998.

The responsibility for ensuring that the requirements of the Petroleum Act 1998 are complied with rests with the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) which sits within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Owners of oil and gas installations and pipelines are required to decommission their offshore infrastructure at the end of a field’s economic life and the 1998 Act requires owners to set out the measures to decommission disused installations and/or pipelines in a decommissioning programme.

A decommissioning programme must identify all the items of equipment, infrastructure and materials that have been installed or drilled and describe the decommissioning solution for each.

OPRED aims to be transparent in its consideration of decommissioning programmes. As a result members of the public, other organisations, non-governmental organisations and other government departments or agencies are invited to comment on the proposals set out in a programme.

Details of the current programmes under consideration are noted in the table below.

OPRED provides guidance on the regulatory requirements for decommissioning,
Offshore Oil and Gas Decommissioning Guidance Notes May 2018
(PDF, 1.09MB, 124 pages)

. Final guidance on the Environmental Considerations for Decommissioning (section 12) will follow shortly, meantime draft guidance can be found here:
Section 12
(MS Word Document, 142KB)

.

Table of draft decommissioning programmes under consideration

Table of approved decommissioning programmes

Notification of disused pipelines

(the DPN form has been amended – July 2017)

During the course of a field’s life, pipelines/sections of pipelines may be taken out of use, e.g. due to corrosion, problems with reservoir pressure, damage to the pipeline, etc. When this happens, under the Petroleum Act 1998 the Secretary of State has the option of immediately calling for a full decommissioning programme. This is not always considered an appropriate option however, and so it has been agreed consideration will be given to handling suitable pipelines, under an informal decommissioning regime, thereby deferring a formal programme until the end of the field’s life.

If a formal decommissioning programme is not immediately deemed suitable, details of the out of use pipeline(s) will be circulated to other government departments for comment. Following this, OPRED will decide one of the following:

• we are content with the proposals for monitoring and maintaining the out-of-use pipeline
• we request additional information or further remedial action
• we request a formal decommissioning programme

The Interim Pipeline Regime is intended to ensure out of use lines do not pose a risk to other users of the sea or the environment and that they are covered by an appropriate surveying and maintenance regime from the point when they are taken out of use until approval of the formal decommissioning programme, which is usually at the end of field life. It should be noted that any interim solution should not prejudice the final decommissioning options for that line, including complete removal. The department expects Operators to submit details of out of use pipelines/sections of a pipeline as soon as they are taken out of use.

Operators are reminded that any works that are proposed on any pipelines under the Pipeline Works Authorisation regime, as per their Terms and Conditions of the PWA, must have a Legal Consent in place before works can commence which includes but is not exclusive to any proposed decommissioning works. Consents are issued by the Oil & Gas Authority and Operators are requested to contact Claire Grant on any queries that they may have relating to Legal Consents. Further Guidance can also be found on the Oil & Gas Authority website: https://www.ogauthority.co.uk/licensing-consents/consents/pipeline-works-authorisations/

Once the necessary legal consent has been issued by OGA, Consents & Authorisations Section, Operators are to email a completed
Disused pipeline notification form
(MS Word Document, 81.7KB)

to The Offshore Decommissioning Unit, OPRED,BEIS.

If you are an Operator, aware of any out of use pipelines that have not been referred to the department, please submit a completed DPN form at your earliest convenience.

Following confirmation a pipeline has been accepted under the Interim Pipeline Regime, the Offshore Decommissioning Unit will continue to monitor the condition of the pipeline by asking the Operator to confirm the status of the pipeline remains unchanged following future surveys.

Further information

A list of all installations on the UKCS and their current status is available from the OSPAR Website

At the first ministerial meeting of the Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) in 1998, a binding decision was agreed that set rules for the disposal of offshore installations at sea. Under the decision the dumping and leaving wholly or partly in place of offshore installations is prohibited. Decision 98/3 recognises it may be difficult to remove the ‘footings’ of large steel jackets weighing more than 10,000 and concrete installations. As a result there are derogations for these categories of installations if the internationally agreed assessment and consultation process shows leaving them in place is justifiable.

OPRED has utilised streamlined decommissioning programme templates for derogation and non-derogation cases, Operators will therefore have a choice whether to submit a decommissioning programme in the existing format (see Annex C of the Guidance Notes ‘Format and Content’) or adopt the streamlined decommissioning programme template. Operators should discuss individual cases with OPRED.

A
Streamlined Decommissioning Programme Template (Non-Derogation Cases)
(PDF, 1.36MB, 33 pages)

is available – (December 2015).

A
Streamlined Decommissioning Programme Template (Derogation Cases)
(PDF, 1.5MB, 36 pages)

is also available (December 2015).

A word version of these templates can also be requested from OPRED. Please email The Offshore Decommissioning Unit for further details.

Cost recovery

OPRED will charge a fee in respect of offshore (oil and gas) installations and pipelines decommissioning programmes under the Petroleum Act 1998. Guidance, including the indicative fee structure, is available in
Guidance on charging a fee for offshore (oil and gas) installations and pipelines under the Petroleum Act 1998
(PDF, 308KB, 9 pages)