§ 49 and 50. Mr. Abseasked the Minister of Power (1) whether he will give an assurance that the Welsh Regional Economic Council in their planning of Welsh employment opportunities will be free to consider a projected figure other than 9,000 as the number of miners to be employed in 1980; and what estimate he has made of the number of miners that will be employed in Wales in 1971 and 1980;
(2) whether, in view of the public concern at the planning of the National Coal Board based on the assumption that the mining manpower in Wales will be reduced from its present figure of 57,400 to 39,000 in 1971 and to 9,000 in 1980, he will refuse approval to plans involving such reductions; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreesonAs my right hon. Friend explained to the House on 28th November the decline in manpower is an inevitable corollary of the growth of the industry's efficiency as well as the fall in demand. If efficiency is not raised and costs brought down to the extent we all hope, the loss of markets will inevitably be even faster than we anticipate. No useful estimate of manpower in 1980 can be given because the uncertainties so far ahead are too great. However, the Welsh Economic Council will I am sure, be concerned to assess the likely employment situation in Wales by 1971. Mining manpower in Wales may be about 39,000. As my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Wales indicated to my hon. Friend on 16th November, this figure is very close to that on which the calculations in the relevant pages of Wales: The Way Ahead (Cmnd. 3334) were based.