Stocks

HC Deb 08 February 1960 vol 617 cc12-3

13. Mr. Nabarro

asked the Minister of Power how much of the undistributed coal stocks of approximately 35 million tons, valued at £142 million, comprises unwashed and unscreened coal.

Mr. Wood

About 16 million tons.

Mr. Nabarro

As my right hon. Friend's intention is to reduce coal stocks by only a paltry 1 million tons throughout 1960, will he tell the House what is to be the ultimate fate of this unsaleable, unwashed and unscreened coal, which he says amounts to 16 million tons? How does he propose ultimately to dispose of it?

Mr. Wood

I do not agree with my hon. Friend that it is unsaleable, unwashed and eventually unscreened. I can assure him that its ultimate fate is that it will be sold.

Mr. Nabarro

Will it not have deteriorated so badly in the meantime, much of it being unwashed, that it will prove unsaleable?

Mr. Wood

My hon. Friend has a later Question about deterioration. I will try to give him the answer then.

15. Mr. Nabarro

asked the Minister of Power what estimate he has made of deterioration of the undistributed coal stocks currently valued at £142 million, approximately.

Mr. Wood

The average loss of calorific value in a year is not more than about 1 per cent. This loss, together with degradation and the expenses of lifting and marketing, is allowed for by the Board in its valuation of stocks.

Mr. Nabarro

The point about which I am trying to be precise, and which I now put to my right hon. Friend, is whether he will give the House an assurance that the National Coal Board is conforming in its valuation of stocks— a very large sum of money is involved here—to the best accountancy practice, which requires that these stocks shall be put into the accounts at cost or market value, whichever is the lower? Will he be precise on that point, as more than £140 million is involved? I should not like to think that the Board is "cooking the books".

Mr. Wood

I should like to make it clear to my hon. Friend that the approximate value of the coal stocks of 35 million tons—and here I should correct an earlier figure which I gave—is £115 million. The other £26 million, which brings the total to £141 million, is in respect of undistributed coke stocks. The Board is quite convinced that it has written down the value of its stocks sufficiently to cover the cost of stocking and eventual sale.