HC Deb 16 July 1962 vol 663 cc14-5
30. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Minister of Power how many mineworkers have become redundant in consequence of pit closures in County Durham in the last five years.

The Minister of Power (Mr. Richard Wood)

I have asked the Chairman of the National Coal Board to give the right hon. Gentleman the precise figures. The Board has been most successful in limiting the effects of closures and the percentage of unemployment in coal mining in Dunham is very low.

Mr. Shinwell

I have asked the right hon. Gentleman the Question. Why does he refer me to the Coal Board? If the Coal Board writes to me, may I impart the information to hon. Members, or have I to inform the right hon. Gentleman so that he may undertake the task? Why does not the Minister answer the Question now, or, perhaps, answer it on some other occasion if I put down another Question?

Mr. Wood

I should have thought that if anyone in the House knew the answer to that Question it was the right hon. Member himself, because he set up the National Coal Board. It is surely right for me to ask the Chairman of the National Coal Board to give to the right hon. Gentleman information which relates to the day-to-day management of the Coal Board.

Mr. Shinwell

This raises the general issue, though I am not quite sure that this is the appropriate moment to raise it. The right hon. Gentleman has implied that we are not entitled to ask questions about redundancies in the hope of getting an answer from him and that I must ask the National Coal Board. Is that correct?

Mr. Wood

I do my best, as I have always tried to do, to provide information for hon. Members. On particular questions of this kind, when the right hon. Gentleman asks how many mine-workers have become redundant during the last five years, I should have thought that this was a wholly suitable matter to be referred to the Chairman of the National Coal Board.

Mr. T. Fraser

How does the Minister manage to advise his colleagues in the Government Who may take steps to provide alternative employment in areas where pits are closing if he himself does not know how many men have become redundant?

Mr. Wood

Obviously, information is in my hands about redundancies caused by actual pit closures, but there is a great deal of reorganisation going on in the industry, as the right hon. Member for Easington (Mr. Shinwell) knows, which does not involve actual pit closures. I should give the right hon. Gentleman misleading information if I gave him details of redundancies in consequence merely of pit closures in County Durham during the past five years.