§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he is satisfied that the code of practice relating to disconnections is being fully implemented.
§ Mr. Norman LamontA review of the code sponsored by the industries and their consumer councils is currently being carried out by the Policy Studies Institute. I am in close touch with the sponsors about this work and hope to discuss its progress with them shortly.
The operation of the code—which is the responsibility of the gas and electricity industries—is regularly monitored by area electricity consultative councils and regional gas consumers' councils.
§ Mr. Stallardasked the Secretary of State for Energy how many electricity disconnections were carried out in the year before the implementation of the code of practice and in the year following it.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe code was adopted by the gas and electricity industries in December 1976. There 97W were 114,300 disconnections in the year ending 31 December 1976 and 83,650 in the year ending 31 December 1977.