§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many persons are employed in the opencast coal industry in(a) Scotland and (b) England; what is the annual output of the industry in each country; and what percentage of the output of each is used by power stations. [R][97677]
§ Mrs. LiddellAt the end of March 1999, employment in the opencast coal industry (including contractors), as declared to the Coal Authority, was 1,301 in Scotland and 1,882 in England. Opencast output in the year to 31 March 1999 was 6.4 million tonnes in Scotland and 7.0 million tonnes in England.
Information on the percentage of opencast output used in power stations is not readily available, but in 1998, 82 per cent. of all the coal produced in the United Kingdom by the five largest producers (one third of which was from opencast mining) was sold to power stations.
§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the total amount of coal imported to the UK in each of the past five years broken down by the nations from which the coal was imported. [R][97680]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe information requested is shown in the table.
Volumes of coal imported into the United Kingdom Thousand tonnes Country of origin 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Australia 3,993 3,641 3,748 4,362 4,610 Belgium/Luxembourg 5 13 19 45 31 Canada 830 1,364 1,410 1,632 1,552 Colombia 2,963 2,686 2,824 2,810 3,820 France 15 — 23 9 — Germany 191 132 151 86 25 Indonesia 153 64 27 84 24 Irish Republic 32 25 40 64 32 Italy 6 — — — — Netherlands1 225 104 253 183 157 Norway — 2 6 102 120 People's Republic of China 77 77 30 78 132 Poland 1,961 1,274 850 700 950 Republic of South Africa 706 1,314 1,559 2,472 2,463 Russia 353 160 75 36 20 Spain — — — — 3 Sweden — 10 33 — — United States of America 3,167 4,859 6,657 6,950 6,746 Venezuela 15 101 — 97 399 Vietnam 217 — 26 15 80 Other countries 133 70 68 131 67 Total all countries 15,041 15,895 17,799 19,856 21,233 1 Includes some coal from outside the European Union routed through the Netherlands. Source:
HM Customs and Excise as published in the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 1999