§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when a contract for construction of stage II of the rebuilding of the Royal Mint as Llantrisant will be placed; when he estimates that the rebuilding will be completed; and when he estimates that production at Tower Hill will cease.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:It is planned to let a contract for the construction of stage II of the new Royal Mint at Llantrisant in 1972, and to achieve completion of the building work in the first half of 1974. The use of Tower Hill will probably cease by the middle of 1974.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the amount expended so far on the rebuilding of the Royal Mint at Llantrisant, including and itemising the amounts spent on the acquisition of land, site preparation, the construction of buildings, the acquisition and installation of plant and machinery, the transfer of men, machines and activities from Tower Hill, and the provision of housing for personnel employed, or to be employed, in connection with the new Mint.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The amounts expended so far on the new Royal Mint at Llantrisant are as follows:
No capital expenditure has been incurred by the Government in the provision of housing. The cost of land includes the land required for Phase II as well as Phase I.
£(million) Acquisition of land 0.10 Site preparation and construction of buildings 1.98 Purchase and installation of plant and machinery 1.44 Transfer of men, machinery and activities from Tower Hill 0.04 Total 3.56
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state his estimates of the costs of completing 220W stage II of the rebuilding of the Royal Mint at Llantrisant, including, and itemising, the amounts to be spent on the acquisition of land, site preparation, the construction of buildings, the acquisition and installation of plant and machinery, the transfer of men, machines and activities from Tower Hill, and the provision of housing for personnel employed, or to be employed in connection with the new Mint.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:No detailed estimates are yet available of the cost of completing stage II of the new Royal Mint at Llantrisant. Current estimates are that the total additional cost may be roughly £5 million.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give his estimate of the costs of closing the Royal Mint at Tower Hill in 1973, including the amount of any redundancy or other comparable payments made to employees who cease to be employed at Tower Hill between now and the final closure.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The amount of redundancy and comparable payments will depend on a number of factors including the number of employees who transfer to Llantrisant or other public service employment, and on certain options available under the Superannuation Acts.
It is impossible at present to give any realistic estimate, but the major part of any expenditure would probably represent payments that would in due course be made in any case under the Superannuation Act.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the staff and hourly-paid employees, respectively, currently employed at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill, have indicated a willingness to transfer to Llantrisant; how many offers of transfer have been made; and how many further offers of transfer are expected to be made.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:All staff and hourly-paid employees who are currently employed at Tower Hill and were on strength on 25th April, 1967, have been asked if they wish to transfer to Llantrisant. Twenty-nine members of the staff and 19 hourly-paid employees have expressed willingness to go A further 221W approach to hourly-paid employees will be made shortly.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the total numbers employed at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill, showing separately the numbers of staff and hourly-paid employees, as at 1st April, 1967, 1st April, 1968, 1st April, 1969, and 1st April, 1970; and how many of such staff and hourly-paid employees are established.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The total numbers of staff and hourly-paid employees employed at the Royal Mint on Tower Hill at the dates mentioned were as follows:
Staff Hourly paid employees Established Unestablished Established Unestablished 1st April, 1967 219 77 439 564 1st April, 1968 226 97 388 592 1st April, 1969 198 132 291 761 1st April, 1970 204 139 269 665
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the total numbers employed at the new Mint at Llantrisant, showing separately the numbers of staff and hourly-paid employees transferred from Tower Hill, recruited locally, and recruited and transferred from other parts of the country; and what is his estimate of the numbers that will be employed when stage II is completely, similarly broken down.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The total numbers of staff and hourly paid employees now employed at the Royal Mint Llantrisant are as follows:
Staff Hourly paid employees Ex Tower Hill Local recruits Recruits from else where Ex Tower Hill Local recruits Recruits from else where Present strength 55 83 26 26 352 1 The division between ex-Tower Hill and local recruits on completion of Phase II is highly speculative, but the totals of additional staff and hourly paid employees expected to be employed are roughly 122 and 216 respectively.
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§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to ensure that when the Royal Mint is transferred to Llantristant, there will be available sufficient skilled and experienced craftsmen to ensure a continuance of the Royal Mint's position as the leading mint in the world.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The Royal Mint at Llantrisant has already successfully produced over 2,500 million decimal coins and possesses many of the skills needed to maintain the Royal Mint's position among the leading mints of the world. Plans for training in processes and techniques not as yet employed at Llantrisant are in hand. An adequate nucleus of suitably experienced staff is available for this purpose either among existing employees at Llantrisant or from Tower Hill employees who have expressed willingness to transfer. Training on machines and techniques entirely new to the Royal Mint which may be introduced in phase II will be arranged with plant manufacturers and existing users.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current capacity, in terms of weekly output of coins, of the new Mint at Llantrisant; and what is his estimate of the capacity that will be available when stage II is completed.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:Assuming two-shift working without overtime and on present expectations about the kinds of coins likely to be required after completion of the decimal task, the capacity of the existing plant could be about 40 million ordinary coins per week or a substantially smaller quantity of specimen coins. Completion of phase II will increase the range of operations that can be performed at the new Mint and will not of itself increase the coining capacity.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current weekly output of coins of the new Mint at Llantrisant; what is his estimate of the weekly outputs in each month up to 31st December, 1970; and what is his estimate of the average weekly output in 1971.
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§ Mr. William Rodgers:The current weekly output at the Royal Mint, Llantrisant, is about 55 million coins mostly line production of decimal bronze. Average output per week for the remainder of 1970 is estimated at 46 million ordinary coins from May to September and 40 million ordinary coins from October to December. Average output in 1971 is estimated at about 30 million ordinary and specimen coins.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current capacity, in terms of weekly output of coins, of the Royal Mint at Tower Hill.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:On the basis of the range of coins manufactured in the past and two shift working without overtime the present capacity at Tower Hill is about 25 million ordinary coins per week, though at this level efficiency and working conditions in the factory are very unsatisfactory by modern standards.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current weekly output of coins at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill; what is his estimate of the weekly outputs in each month up to 31st December, 1970; and what is his estimate of the average weekly output in 1971.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The current weekly output of coins at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill is approximately 20 million. Weekly output is expected to fall to an average of about 16 million by June, 6–7 million by September and 3–4 million by December. Little or no output of coins is expected to be required from Tower Hill in 1971.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the output of coins for export by the Royal Mint for each of the six month periods ended 30th June and 31st December, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969; and if he will give his estimate of the output of coins for export by the Royal Mint for the six months ending 30th June and 31st December, 1970, and 30th June, 1971.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The actual and estimated amounts of coin produced by the Royal Mint for export in the six month periods mentioned are as follows: 224W
Export demand is subject to wide fluctuation and orders are commonly placed at short notice. For these reasons the figures quoted for the period ending 30th June, 1971, must be considered highly speculative.
Year Period ending 30th June(millions) Period ending 31st December(millions) 1966 … … 264.4 510.0 1967 … … 546.1 379.2 1968 … … 213.8 242.4 1969 … … 186.7 124.0 1970 … … 240 320 1971 … … 250–350 —
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current weekly output of coins by sub-contractors for the Royal Mint; and what is his estimate of the weekly output by sub-contractors in each month up to 31st December, 1970.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The total weekly output of coins produced by subcontractors of the Royal Mint since the beginning of this year has averaged approximately 3 million. It is expected that production will continue throughout the year at about the same average rate.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many weekly hours of overtime have been on average worked by employees at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill, and Llantrisant, respectively, since 1st January, 1970; and what is his estimate of the average weekly overtime that will be required after 1st May, 1970, at each location.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:The average overtime hours worked by hourly paid employees at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill and Llantrisant since January, 1970, are respectively approximately 7 and 6½ hours per man per week. The expected requirements from 1st May are respectively 5¼ and 2 hours per man per week on average, though this is somewhat speculative.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many men are expected to be made redundant at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill and Llantrisant, respectively, between now and 31st December, 1970.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:It will probably be necessary to reduce the complement 225W on Tower Hill by about 480 between now and 31st December, 1970. More than half of this reduction is expected to occur through natural wastage and transfers to other public service employment. No redundancies are expected at Llantrisant.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many visits to overseas countries were made in the last 12 months by staff of the Royal Mint primarily with a view to securing export orders; and how many such visits were made by staff of firms acting as agents for the Royal Mint.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:Two visits to an overseas country have been made by a member of the Royal Mint staff primarily with a view to securing export orders. During the same period some 100 visits were made by staff of the Royal Mint's principal agents, who are banknote manufacturers, primarily with a view to securing export orders either for coins or notes.
§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the capital expenditure incurred by the Royal Mint at Tower Hill since 1st January, 1970, indicating which of any items purchased are to be transferred to Llantrisant.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:Capital expenditure incurred by the Royal Mint at Tower Hill since the 1st January, 1970.is as follows:
All but the minor replacements are to be transferred to Llantrisant.
Item Amount£ Unit for packing coins in rouleaux 36,545 Pickling and drying unit 5,995 Coining presses 33.200 Machine tools 1.780 Minor replacements to maintain current production 3,982