§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will give a direction to the British Steel Corporation that it should retain a higher level of stocks in order to maintain full-time working in its finishing plants.
§ Mr. WakehamNo. This is entirely a matter for BSC management.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Industry what representations he has received from the British Steel Corporation about losses incurred as a result of the inclement weather; and whether he has any information about the method by which the figure of £ 10 million per day for loss incurred was constructed.
§ Mr. WakehamI have nothing to add to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) on this subject on 22 January 1982.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Industry what representations he has received from (a) the independent steel producers and (b) the British Steel Corporation on the subject of the inclement weather and pending anti-dumping actions in the United States of America; and what form each set of representations took.
§ Mr. WakehamThe BSC has informed die Government that it will need to reassess the outlook for the remainder of 1981–82 and its plan for 1982–85 in the light of the recent severe weather and the United States antidumping actions. The private sector steel producers have made no representations about the weather, but the Government have been in close touch with both BSC and BISPA about the possible restrictions on US imports. Questions on the handling of the US anti-dumping actions are for the Secretary of State for Trade.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he has discussed with the chairman 27W of the British Steel Corporation the question of substantially reducing capacity within the British Steel Corporation.
§ Mr. WakehamNo. The British Steel Corporation has made no recommendation to the Government for substantially reducing capacity below present levels. Future capacity levels will be one of the matters to be covered in discussions with the corporation once its current reassessment of the new plan for 1982–85 has been completed.
§ Sir Anthony Meyerasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will list the grants received by steel companies in 1980 and 1981, and to date in 1982, from the European Coal and Steel Community to help with readaptation measures in the steel industry.
§ Mr. WakehamThe amounts allocated from ECSC funds towards the cost of readaptation grants, which are paid to redundant steel workers not steel companies, have been as follows:
£ million 1980 19.7 1981 36.6 1982 to date 28.2