§ Mr. Ancramasked the Secretary of State for Energy when the deferred deficit and operating grants in respect of 1981–82 will be paid to the National Coal Board.
§ Mr. John MooreThe deferred grant of £198 million will be paid as soon as possible. Some £109 million will be met from the Vote on Account for Class IV, Vote 5. The remainder will be paid from a repayable advance from the Contingencies Fund pending parliamentary approval of the main Estimates for 1982–83.
§ Mr. Ancramasked the Secretary of State for Energy how the recent Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen dispute affected the National Coal Board's external financing requirement in 1981–82; and what change will be made to the board's 1982–83 external financing limit to reflect this and other factors.
§ Mr. John MooreThe NCB's audited accounts for 1981–82 are not yet available, but the board has told me that the effects of the ASLEF dispute were responsible for £121 million of its external cash requirement in 1981–82 of £1,238 million. When account is taken of this, NCB's performance was consistent with its EFL of £1,117 million. The Government will not expect the NCB to recoup this £121 million in 1982–83, except to the extent that NCB recover sales lost in 1981–82.
My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced today the change of the NCB's EFL of £1,026 million for 1982–83, which was announced on 2 December last, to £962 million, to take account of a number of factors, including the recovery of sales after the ASLEF dispute, which the NCB expects to make in 1982–83, and the reduction in the employers' national insurance surcharge, and assistance for foundry coke producers, which were announced on 9 March.
I shall announce in due course an appropriate adjustment to the board's deficit grant for 1982–83.