National Coal Board (Hansard, 20 March 1978)

§ 11. Mr. Jim Lester
asked the Secretary of State for Energy when he last met the Chairman of the National Coal Board.

§ 13. Mr. Canavan
asked the Secretary of State for Energy when he next expects to meet the Chairman of the National Coal Board.

§ 25. Mr. Tim Smith
asked the Secretary of State for Energy when he next expects to meet the Chairman of the National Coal Board.

§ 29. Mr. Moonman
asked the Secretary of State for Energy when he next expects to meet the Chairman of the National Coal Board.

§ Mr. Benn
I meet the Chairman of the National Coal Board frequently, most recently last Wednesday.

§ Mr. Lester
I thank the Minister for his reply. We are anxious that the posi- 958 tive side of the productivity schemes now being worked should be shown. Now that these are starting to move in the right direction, I hope that the right hon. Gentleman has received assurances from the Chairman of the National Coal Board about the marketing policy. We are anxious that he should be actively concerned within the Commission itself and that Ministers should try to support the British coal industry by replacing East European imports by United Kingdom produced coal.

§ Mr. Benn
I am well aware of this, and at all the recent Energy Councils I have been urging this very strongly. I have the figures for subsidies in the EEC, and the House might like to hear them. For every ton of coal produced in Britain there is a subsidy of 50p. For every ton of coal produced in Germany there is a subsidy of £2.60. For every ton of coal produced in France there is a subsidy of £13.30. For every ton of coal produced in Belgium there is a subsidy of £15.80. Therefore, British coal is without doubt produced in the most efficient circumstances in the whole of the Common Market, and I have urged this most strongly at all the meetings that I have attended. I raised it again with the Commission and with the current President in office of the Council of Ministers, Ivan Nørgaard, when I went to Copenhagen recently.

§ Mr. Canavan
Did my right hon. Friend discuss with the chairman the effects on the Scottish coal industry of the decision to go ahead with the advanced gas-cooled reactor at Torness? Can he still guarantee a minimum coal-burn of 8 million tons per year which will help to ensure a viable future for the Scottish coalfield, including pits such as Polmaise Colliery in my constituency?

§ Mr. Benn
As my hon. Friend knows, I am not the Minister responsible for the generation industry in Scotland, which is a power board—the South of Scotland Electricity Board—responsible to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary negotiated a coalburn agreement between the National Coal Board and the SSEB last year and the Government are committed to the levels of assistance then announced.

§ Mr. Ioan Evans
In view of the increased production, productivity and efficiency of British mines compared with our European counterparts, will my right hon. Friend ensure that the National Coal Board has all the financial resources to invest to maintain its efficiency in the future and to ensure that alternative uses for coal can be considered in view of the increased supply?

§ Mr. Benn
At current prices the "Plan for Coal" represents an investment programme costing £4.04 billion. As for other uses for coal apart from European markets and coalburn in the United Kingdom, which I am seeking to stimulate, my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary is responsible for a study which will be reporting to me in the next few days, and subsequently in the House, on advanced methods of using coal—fluidised bed burning, liquefication, and other conversion technologies—which I believe will secure for the industry an outlet that we shall badly need. I hope that that satisfies my hon. Friend.

§ Mr. Tom King
As there is general agreement on both sides of the House that the major problem facing the coal industry is that of marketing the production, which we hope to see increased, and as the facts he has given us about the European situation show what an overwhelmingly strong case we have in the Commission, how does the right hon. Gentleman account for the fact that we have failed to get any Community agreement? Is it a measure of the lack of good will felt towards this Government by the Governments of the other major States?

§ Mr. Benn
If the hon. Gentleman reflects for a moment on his supplementary question he will realise that there is a conflict of interest between producers and consumers. That exists here and in the Community and elsewhere. It is part of our purpose that we should get a coal-burn scheme that shifts not only from oil to coal, which is obviously beneficial, but from imported to indigenous fuels. The discussions we are having and pressing strongly are designed to meet that need. The hon. Gentleman should not overlook the fact that other countries defend their national interests within the Community with the same zest and zeal that I seek to show.