§ I now come to the nationalised industries. I gave some account on 26th July of the preliminary surveys of capital expenditure and borrowings which the nationalised industries had made at the request of the Government. In particular, I mentioned various measures which the Central Electricity Authority and the Gas Council, together with their area boards, were prepared to take, including the deferment of certain capital projects. I can now give the result.
§ The gas industry will make do with older equipment, such as carbonisation plant, for a longer period, and will be able to reduce expenditure this year by something approaching £3 million. The Central Electricity Authority has asked the area electricity boards for an all-round percentage cut in their expenditure in the current year, and even in the priority field of generation they have been able to postpone certain less vital projects while pressing on urgently with the nuclear power programme. The Secretary of State for Scotland has, of course, also been in touch with the Scottish electricity boards on these matters.
§ In both industries, what is called "promotional expenditure" is being cut back, and working capital employed in hire-purchase activities, and stocks held for those activities, have been curtailed, as a result both of the boards' own efforts and the Government's restrictions on hire-purchase arrangements.
217§ These initial measures will produce some useful savings in this year's capital expenditure. In addition, the Committee will be aware that, owing to the funding operations undertaken during the summer, the overdraft limits of the two industries authorised by the Government, have fallen from a peak of £280 million earlier this year to a figure of £130 million.
§ But it is only in the period ahead that substantial changes can be made. For that period the nationalised industries have been carrying out a more detailed survey of capital projects as well as of internal resources, the results of which will be incorporated in the investment programmes they are about to submit to the Government. These, as the Committee may be aware, are submitted every year to the Government. The industries are fully conscious that on this occasion their proposals for future investment will necessarily be examined with a much more critical eye than in previous years.
§ This examination is not, of course, confined to gas and electricity. I said on 26th July that the coal mines must have their full investment, but I am glad to learn from the National Coal Board that it is pursuing the possibility of some saving by deferring projects such as brickworks and office buildings which do not affect output.
§ The modernisation and re-equipment plan for British Railways is at an early stage of its development. It does not, therefore, at present, involve any substantially increased demand on labour and resources; but the British Transport Commission is well aware of the general needs of the economy, and in carrying through its programme will have those needs in mind.