HL Deb 12 May 1964 vol 258 cc122-3

2.45 p.m.

LORD HOBSON

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government the cost per unit generated at Lots Road London Transport Board Power Station and Stonebridge Park British Railways Power Station.]

THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD CHESHAM)

My Lords, this is the kind of matter which my right honourable friend normally regards as falling within the nationalised transport Board's sphere of responsibility for management. I regret, therefore, that I cannot give the noble Lord the information he has asked for.

LORD HOBSON

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the information is readily available, so far as the power stations of the Central Electricity Generating Board are concerned, and that the cost is 0.6343d. a unit? Is he further aware—although I am unable to prove it but happen to know—that the cost per kilowatt hour, which is the cost per unit, at Lots Road and at Stonebridge Park is in advance of the figure I have quoted for the Central Electricity Generating Board? Is this not an added argument for transferring the Lots Road station elsewhere or for the London Transport Board to acquire their electricity from the Central Electricity Generating Board? Further, is it not another reason for not closing down the Broad Street—Richmond line, which is supplied with electricity by Stonebridge Park? And why are these figures not available in the Reports of British Railways and the London Transport Board?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I regret that I think I shall have to disclaim the majority of the noble Lords' numerous supplementaries, because I have had some difficulty in relating them to the Question on the Order Paper. But, in point of fact, to begin with, if the noble Lord is aware of these figures I cannot see why he asked me for them. Secondly, I am sure that the Board, whatever may be their position, have good reasons for their electricity-generating practice.

LORD HOBSON

Can the noble Lord say why power stations controlled by the Central Electricity Generating Board must, in their own accounts, lay before Parliament the cost per kilowatt hour, and why the three power stations remaining under the control of the Minister of Transport do not do likewise?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, for the reason that they are under the control of the London Transport Board or the British Railways Board and not the Minister of Transport.

LORD HOBSON

Will the noble Lord say why the cost does not appear in the Report of the British Transport Commission?

LORD CHESHAM

Frankly, my Lords, I was under the impression that it did. I think the noble Lord will find that the figure is given in the London Transport Board's Report for 1963.