§ 20. Mr. G. Elfed Daviesasked the Minister of Power what is the current output of National Coal Board deep-mined coal, opencast coal and licensed mines; and how this compares with respective outputs in 1967, 1966 and 1965.
§ Mr. MasonDeep-mined coal output in the first 47 weeks of 1965 was 161 million tons; in the same period in 1966 it was 149 million tons; in 1967 146 million tons, and in 1968 140 million tons. Coal output from licensed mines fell from 1. 2 million tons in 1965 to 09 million tons in 1968. The output of opencast coal declined from 6. 7 million tons in 1965 to 6. 2 million tons in 1968.
§ Mr. DaviesCan my right hon. Friend say how those figures compare with productivity and stocks over the same years?
§ Mr. MasonIn 1965, productivity was 35. 9 cwts output per man shift. In November, 1968, it was 44. 97 cwts., which represents an excellent increase in productivity of 9 per cent. But stocks in 1965 were 21. 5 million tons, and last November they were 29 million tons. The problem, therefore, obviously is a marketing and sales one.
§ Mr. SpeedCan the Minister confirm that it is still his current policy that only in very exceptional circumstances will he authorise new opencast sites?
§ Mr. MasonI will only authorise new opencast sites if they are not in conflict with deep-mined coal production. That applies especially to some anthracite opencast sites that I might authorise.
§ Mr. OgdenIs my right hon. Friend aware that, while it is right to give attention to the production of coal, it may be that too little attention has been given to the needs of the distributive industry? Is this not a case for the I.R.C., the Industrial Investment Corporation and all the other bodies of Government to look at, giving special attention to distribution 189 costs rather than production costs of the industry?