HC Deb 25 March 1991 vol 188 cc596-7
10. Mr. Knox

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what has been the increase in labour productivity in the coal mining industry since 1983–84.

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory

British Coal has increased productivity in its deep mines by more than 85 per cent. since 1983.

Mr. Knox

To what does my hon. Friend attribute British Coal's extraordinary good performance on productivity? How much does he expect productivity to rise in the next five years?

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory

The existence of a Conservative Government has helped the process and British Coal's management and workers have worked together to put behind them the spectre of industrial strife and dislocation that gave the industry a bad name in the past. I cannot predict what will happen in the next five years, but if British Coal continues its impressive improvement in productivity, its future will be bright.

Mr. Lofthouse

How does the Minister think the miners, who have put such massive efforts into increased production, feel now that Mr. Baker, chairman of National Power, says that, whatever British Coal's results, he proposes to import 50 per cent. of his coal? If that comes about, it will add a further £750 million to the balance of payments deficit and put out of action millions of tonnes of our national energy resource. Does the Minister think that that is good practice and does he have no influence on Mr. Baker whatever?

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory

It would not be in the long-term best interests of the mining industry or British industry generally to keep out imports and try to insulate this country from world trade. The future of the coal mining industry is in the hands of the workers and the management and I am sure that, if they can sustain the productivity improvements, the electricity generating stations will continue to buy substantial quantities of coal from British sources.