§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will appoint Mr. Joe Gormley as the next chairman of the National Coal Board.
§ Mr. MellorI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan) on Monday, 21 December 1981.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will seek to rationalise and thereby reduce the costs of the National Coal Board in order to keep down the cost of coal and electricity supplies to the United Kingdom market.
§ Mr. MellorCompetitively priced coal is important to the competitiveness of British industry, which uses coal and electricity, and to other consumers. It is therefore vital to the coal industry's own long-term future. I always have in mind the need for NCBs to manage its own business so as to contain its costs and to enable it to charge prices which its customers can afford to pay.
§ Mr. Marlowasked the Secretary of State for Energy what are the National Coal Board's cash limits for the previous, current and next years; how much was intended in each case for capital expenditure; for what purpose the revenue allocations were provided; and if he will publish a breakdown.
§ Mr. MellorThe National Coal Board's external financing limits for the years in question are as follows:
£ million outturn 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 832 1,117 1,026 The board's approved capital expenditure for the first two years is as follows:
1980–81 1981–82 807 805 The board's capital expenditure approval for 1982–83 will be published, with those of other nationalised industries, in the public expenditure White Paper.
Within the board's EFLs, the following amounts of operating and deficit grants have been or will be accrued by the Board:
422W
1980–81 1981–82 174.9 467 The operating and deficit grants available to the NCB in 1982–83 will be published in the Estimates in due course.
These grants are provided to cover the cost of action by the board to promote sales of coal to the SSEB, to cover the cost to the board and their subsidiaries of maintaining stocks of coke, and to reduce the consolidated deficit on revenue account of the board and its subsidiaries.