§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish in the Official Reportthe latest figures for the total aid being given by the Treasury to the coal industry in the United Kingdom, the average aid per ton produced, and the gross average production cost per ton produced, together with corresponding figures for Belgium, France and West Germany.
§ Mr. Eadie:As I announced on 24th November—[Vol. 958, c. 779 –801—aid to the NCB for the financial year 1978–79 has been agreed at £124 million. Of this, £70 million or 56p per tonne is aid to current production. We understand from Commission Report R/2146/78 that the 161W corresponding figures for the other countries for 1978 are likely to be:
Aid to current production Aid not related to current production Total £ million Aid/tonne £ £ million Belgium 168 24.06 406 France 294 14.70 769 Germany 1,044 11.93 1,744 The report indicates that the figures in the last column may include aid which in the United Kingdom is covered by the social security system. The figures for Germany have been adjusted to reflect the suggestions in the report that account should be taken of the levy on electricity consumers used to subsidise German coal burned in power stations; and a full year of coking coal aid.
The Commission report gives average production costs for 1977 as:
Belgium £52/tonne France £38/tonne Germany £38/tonne United Kingdom (including opencast) £22/tonne