17. Miss Wardasked the Minister of Fuel and Power what additional capital expenditure for coalmining he has recently sanctioned.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydThe capital expenditure of the National Coal Board on collieries and associated activities is expected to exceed £90 million this year, compared with about £75 million in 1954.
Miss WardWould my right hon. Friend very kindly tell us exactly what benefits we expect to get from this additional expenditure? Is not it a fact that we have gone on pouring additional capital into the coal mines with jolly little result, and is not it time that we took stock of the position to see whether we are getting value for money?
§ Mr. LloydThat is a very large question. I would remind my hon. Friend that the coal industry is an extractive industry, that a good many pits go out of operation every year, and that part of this sum is needed to remedy that before we can make progress. Secondly, I would point out that it takes a good time to bring a new pit into operation or radically to reconstruct an existing mine.
§ Mr. WoodburnWill the right hon. Gentleman inform his hon. Friend that unless this capital expenditure takes place great areas of the country will cease to produce any coal at all, and that, especially in Scotland, we are now going down to deeper seams which could not be worked by any expenditure of capital by private enterprise?
§ Mr. LloydIt is true that the Scottish coalfields are more in need of a thorough reconstruction than are those of perhaps any other area in the country?