§ 11. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on his consideration of the Cooper committee report to West Lothian district council on Polkemmet colliery, a copy of which has been sent to him.
§ Mr. David HuntI have studied the report to which the hon. Gentleman refers, and my right hon. Friend wrote to West Lothian district council about it on 16 September. Individual pit closures are a matter for the National Coal Board; I understand that the National Union of Mineworkers and NACODS have appealed against the proposed closure of Polkemmet, through the colliery review procedure.
§ Mr. DalyellIs the Minister saying that the report has been studied properly by a deputy secretary, an under-secretary or a senior civil servant?
§ Mr. HuntNo. The hon. Gentleman has been given an answer to the question that he posed. I have studied the report. It is for the management of the National Coal Baord to decide whether it is appropriate to consider a report of this nature in the review procedure. I expect that both the trade unions involved in the procedure will be referring to the report in the evidence that they present.
§ Mr. EadieThe Minister has told the House that he has studied the report and has done nothing. He has been lecturing the House today on the way in which NCB (Enterprises) Ltd. has been providing jobs, but it is stated in the report that an investment of £15 million would create 700 jobs and that Ravenscraig would be able to take the product of those workers.
§ Mr. HuntI studied the report because the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) asked me to do so. I do not feel that the hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr. Eadie) has any right to criticise me for having done somehing that another hon. Member asked me to do. I have said to the House on many occasions that individual pit closures are matters for the management of the National Coal Board, in Scotland or wherever.