HC Deb 18 March 1964 vol 691 cc1354-5
6. Mr. J. Hill

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will name the oil company which received the contract to supply the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and the Western General Hospital with fuel oil; and what assurance this company gave of fixed prices for future years.

Mr. Stodart

No contract has been placed; none of the oil companies quoted fixed prices for the future.

Mr. Hill

Is the Minister aware that the importation of oil last year upset the balance of payments by over £500 million and that while the Secretary of State had no fixed prices from the oil companies, he got fixed prices from the Coal Board? As the refineries provide only 2,000 jobs here whereas the Coal Board provides over half a million, was it not a mistake not to give the contract to the Coal Board?

Mr. Stodart

The hon. Member will, I think, agree that I have done my best to explain the factors on which we reached a decision, namely, that despite all these considerations at the end of the day the economic factor was greater than the marginal one which we felt would be justified.

Mr. T. Fraser

Is not the hon. Gentleman aware that when he explained the position in the Adjournment debate a few weeks ago, he compared the fixed-price tendering of the National Coal Board with estimates of what the oil might cost some years hence? Is he not aware that no reasonable person could accept that as an explanation? Did not the kind of explanation which he gave on that occasion suggest to the people of Scotland that there was definite, deliberate bias in favour of one of the offerers?

Mr. Stodart

It is true, and it was made clear, that there was a fixed offer from the Coal Board of the same price for two years from January, 1967, and that there was also the question of the rebate offered by the Board. It is equally true that no fixed price was quoted for oil. I accept that this is not a strictly like comparison—it is impossible to make absolutely like comparisons for a speculative future—but it is, perhaps, unfair and unreasonable necessarily to assume that oil will not come down in price. It is just as possible that it could. This is one of the intangibles.