Speaking at a debate about shale gas at Westminster Hall yesterday, energy minister Andrea Leadsom (pictured) said the secret report into the impact of fracking on house prices should and will be published in full.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) commissioned the report and published parts of it last year. However, it redacted 63 passages including sections on the “impact on housing demand and property prices”.
The Information Commissioner ordered full publication of the report last month but Defra has continued its fight to keep the report secret and has so far failed to publish. Environment secretary Liz Truss has described the report as “inaccurate and potentially misleading”.
Julian Sturdy, Conservative MP for York Outer, said at Westminster Hall yesterday: “The whole debate about fracking is ultimately about trust, as has come out loud and clear in this morning’s debate, but sadly, findings of the Government’s “Shale Gas: Rural Economy Impacts” report were redacted. That does not fill people with trust, so will she (Leadsom) encourage the relevant minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to publish that report as soon as possible?”
Leadsom replied: “The report is going to be published. The timing is up to Defra, but I share my hon. friend’s concern that it should be made available to the public, so that they can draw their own conclusions.”
Defra could still appeal against the report’s publication – it has 28 days from the Information Commissioner’s June 18 decision to do so. If it doesn’t appeal, or publish the report within 35 days of the decision, it could be in contempt of court.
