§ Mr. A. Lewisasked the Minister of Power what action his Department have taken since last winter to offset the effects of a severe winter in 1963, and to ensure that there will be no power cuts and enough fuel for both industrial and domestic use.
§ Mr. ErrollMy Department has kept the supply prospects under close review and there have been consultations with all the nationalised fuel and power industries to ensure that everything possible is done to safeguard supplies in severe weather. There are ample supplies of industrial coal and the Coal 123W Board has taken steps to increase the production of house coal. Distributed stocks of house coal are higher than at this time last year.
My predecessor authorised additional capital expenditure by the electricity and gas industries. If there is a normal winter, the electricity industry hopes to be able to get by without power cuts caused by over-loading of the power stations and grid system, although there may be difficulties on some distribution networks. There will have to be some power cuts if the weather is as severe as last winter.