HC Deb 29 June 1959 vol 608 cc16-8
27. Mr. Blyton

asked the Paymaster-General the present figure of distributed and undistributed stocks of coal, giving details of opencast coal stocks, general purpose coals and coking coals.

Sir I. Horobin

At 13th June, 1959, distributed stocks were 14.5 million tons and undistributed stocks 26.8 million tons, of which 6.3 million tons were at opencast sites. The undistributed stocks included 4 million tons of carbonisation coal, the great bulk of the remainder being general purposes coals.

Mr. Blyton

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the coal situation is getting more serious week by week? Is it not now time that the Government declared what place the coal industry will have in the economy, or are we to contemplate more closures at the end of the year as stocks continue to rise?

Sir I. Horobin

As I think the hon. Member knows, the Coal Board is reconsidering the whole of its plan for the next few years. The report has not yet been presented to the Ministry. As soon as it is, it will, of course, be carefully considered. Once again, however, the initiative and the responsibility in this matter have been placed by Parliament firmly upon the Coal Board, and it is up to the Board in the first place to say what it thinks will happen and what it wants. As soon as that is done, it is up to the Ministry to consider it, and it will be considered at once.

Mr. Robens

As the rise in the stocks of coal is greater than was anticipated and forecast by the Paymaster-General and the Parliamentary Secretary in our last debate, is it the Government's intention to review once again the size of the opencast coal programme and also the reversion to coal utilisation by the power stations which are now being converted to oil?

Sir I. Horobin

Unless I misunderstood him, the right hon. Gentleman is not quite accurate. An estimate was given of probable stocks at the end of the year, but no estimate has been officially given for the situation in the middle of the year. As the right hon. Gentleman knows very well, conditions change completely after the summer. Broadly speaking, we have no reason to suppose that the figures for the end of the year will not be reasonably accurate.