§ Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Minister of Power what has been the productive capacity, expressed in terms of tons per annum, of the British steel foundry industry at 31st December in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. FreesonThere is no accepted definition of annual capacity and figures of capacity are not collected regularly. I regret, therefore, that this information is not available.
§ Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Minister of Power (1) what was the total tonnage of steel castings produced at the steel foundries of the National Coal Board in each of the past five years; and how much of this production has been supplied to the Board for its own use and how much to the private sector of British industry;
(2) what has been the total capacity in terms of tons per annum of the steel foundry of the National Coal Board at 31st December in each of the past five years;
(3) what was the capital employed at the steel foundries of the National Coal Board at 31st December, or at the end of the appropriate financial year, for each of the past five years;
(4) what has been the value of the fixed assets as expressed in the annual balance sheet, and at current replacement value, of the steel foundries of the National Coal Board at 31st December, or at the end of the appropriate financial year, for each of the past five years;
(5) what has been the turnover, profit, percentage profit before and after tax on turnover and capital employed, respectively, in the steel foundries of the National Coal Board at 31st December, or at the end of the appropriate financial year, for each of the past five years;
(6) what has been the capital expenditure on the steel foundries of the National Coal Board for each of the past five years; and what is the budgeted expenditure over the next five years.
§ Mr. FreesonI have asked the Chairman of the Board to write to the hon. Member giving as much information as he can.
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§ Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Minister of Power (1) what has been the total tonnage of castings produced by the British steel foundry industry in each of the past five years;
(2) what was the tonnage of steel castings produced by steel foundries in the private sector in each of the past five years and the total tonnage produced by steel foundries in the public sector, including steel foundries who are subsidiaries of the 14 companies to be nationalised under the Iron and Steel Act, 1967, in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. FreesonThe information is as follows:
PRODUCTION OF STEEL CASTINGS BY STEEL FOUNDRIES Foundries in "Private" sector "Public" sector(a) Total Thousand tons 1962 235.1 26.7 261.8 1963 229.1 23.9 253.0 1964(b) 270.4 32.1 302.5 1965 282.7 29.6 312.3 1966 257.7 28.5 286.2
- (a) Comprising National Coal Board, British Rail, H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth, Royal Ordnance Factory, Woolwich (until closure in 1965) and foundries who are subsidiaries of the 14 companies to be nationalised.
- (b) 53-week period. All other periods relate to 52 weeks.
§ Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Minister of Power what was the number of steel foundries in the United Kingdom in production at 31st December in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. FreesonThe information is as follows:
Number of steel foundries in the United Kingdom in production at 31st December 1962 107 1963 104 1964 103 1965 104 1966 96