HC Deb 05 November 1968 vol 772 cc667-8
8. Mr. Kelley

asked the Minister of Power what reassessment he intends to make of the estimate of the fuel requirements of the nation as set out in Command Paper No. 3438 of November, 1967.

23. Mr. Emery

asked the Minister of Power when he will be able to inform the House on his first retrospective look at the estimates in the Fuel Policy White Paper.

Mr. Mason

As I told the hon. Member for Honiton (Mr. Emery) on 24th July—Vol. 769, c. 151—the monitoring of energy developments is part of the normal work of the Ministry. I will, of course, tell the House if it should lead to any change of policy.

Mr. Kelley

Is the Minister aware that the statement made at the weekend to the effect that the Government were able to reappraise the enegry situation in Britain has received universal welcome in the coalfields? Will he now go further and ask the National Coal Board to suspend any further pit closures on economic grounds until this reappraisal has been completed?

Mr. Mason

On the question of closures, we will be heeding the recommendations of the regional planning chairman and will be determining quite soon what the deferment programme should be for the winter months.

Mr. Emery

As the right hon. Gentleman claimed on 12th July that he was urgently engaged in his first retrospective look at the White Paper, surely now, four months having passed, we should be given an answer.

Mr. Mason

I am now studying the matter as a result of that retrospective look. I met the chairmen of the nationalised industries at Sunningdale. There are later Questions on this issue.

Mr. Palmer

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the White Paper has still not yet been discussed and approved by the House?

Mr. Mason

That is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House and not for me.

Mr. Shinwell

My right hon. Friend talks about informing the House when changes are made. Does that mean in future that he will not make decisions when the House is in recess instead of making them when the House is in session, as he did in the case of the decision about Seaton Carew?

Mr. Mason

It depends on the urgency of the matter—[Interruption.]—and what the decision is designed to do. In the case to which my right hon. Friend referred, we were anxious to get 300 men at work by Christmas on the nuclear site.