§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether, pursuant to the answer by the hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr. Eadie) Official Report, 7th March, column 418, he is now in a position to give a figure at June 1977 prices for the revised estimate of "Plan for Coal" which is stated in "Coal for the Future" to be £3,150 million; and whether he will break it down into major projects and other expenditure.
§ Mr. EadieAt March 1976 price levels the revised estimate of the cost of "Plan for Coal" was £3,150 million. The National Coal Board does not have an equivalent estimate at June 1977 price levels, but at March 1977 price levels the revised estimate is equivalent to £3,710 million. Of this, £1,770 million can be assigned to major projects and £1,940 million to other expenditure.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether, pursuant to the answer by the hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr. Eadie), Official Report, 7th March, column 418, he is now in a position to revise to June 1977 prices the figure of £400 million given in "Coal for the Future" of the possible 616W annual expenditure to achieve coal production of 170 million tons by the end of the century.
§ Mr. EadieThe National Coal Board does not have an equivalent figure at June 1977 price levels, but at March 1977 price levels the equivalent figure is £470 million.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Energy what are the approximate geographical locations of the potential 30 new mine sites which are stated in "Coal for the Future" to be suitable for opening up in the period to the end of the century; and how many of them are in areas where coal mining is not currently taking place or ceased to do so prior to the Second World War.
§ Mr. EadieIn "Coal for the Future" the Government endorsed the Board's intention to extend its exploration programme beyond that required for "Plan for Coal" so as to gain the fullest possible information on which to base further developments. Until this further exploration programme has been completed and its results assessed it will not be possible to identify the location of the new mines that will be needed if the planning objective proposed by the coal industry is adopted.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Energy, whether, pursuant to the answer by the hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr. Eadie), Official Report, 7th March, column 417, he will now give the estimated cost at June 1977 prices of the Selby mining project, which he stated on 13th October 1976 to be £400 million at March 1976 prices, Official Report, column 133 and on 7th March 1977 to be £40 million at August 1976 prices.
§ Mr. EadieAt August 1976 price levels the cost of the Selby mining project was estimated to be £440 million. The National Coal Board does not have an equivalent figure at June 1977 price levels, but at March 1977 price levels the equivalent figure is £480 million.