§ 67. Mr. Keelingasked the Minister of Fuel and Power what change is being made in the responsibility for opencast coal production.
§ The Minister of Fuel and Power (Major Lloyd George)For the last two years the Ministry of Works have been responsible for the processes of exploratory boring, extraction of the coal on approved sites and the provision of loading and treatment facilities, while I have been responsible for determining which sites should be worked and for disposing of the coal on the market. I have now arranged with my right hon. Friend that responsibility for all the work should be vested in one Department and that, as Minister of Fuel and Power, I should undertake this responsibility. It is proposed that the transfer should take place as from the end of the present financial year, and the Estimates of the two Departments for 1945–46 will be prepared on that basis.