§ 23. Mr. Rankinasked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he is prepared to issue a White Paper which will show clearly the state of the mining industry as to production, productivity, earnings, equipment, manpower, etc., at 31st December, 1946.
§ Mr. ShinwellAll the figures requested by my hon. Friend will appear in the Statistical Digest for 1946, which I hope will be issued earlier this year than last year. My hon. Friend will find an up-to-date summary on production, output per manshift, absenteeism and manpower, in the "Monthly Digest of Statistics" 1095 issued by the Central Statistical Office, and statistics of earnings in the coal mining industry in the statistical statements of costs of production, etc., which are published each quarter as a White Paper.
§ Mr. RankinRecognising that these statistics are readily available to hon. Members, may I ask if he is aware that those statistics are not readily available to the public, and that the purpose of the Question was to collate all these statistics so that they would be available to the public in the form I suggest?
§ Mr. ShinwellAs I said in my original answer, these statistics are available to the public through the Statistical Digest. Of course, the figures that are presented in the digest are perhaps a little belated, but that is unavoidable.