§ Mr. Biffenasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the steel shortage arising from the lack of coking coal ; what consideration he has given to a system of priority allocations of available steel ; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantBSC is now receiving about 60 per cent. of normal supplies of coking coal, but is achieving steel production at a somewhat higher proportion of normal. It estimates that up to 12th January it has lost some 357,000 tonnes of steel output through shortage of coal.
With steel supplies so greatly reduced, there is no room for any general system of priority allocations. If requirements were met in full over a substantial area then others would be denied steel 213W altogether and parts of industry would be brought to a standstill. Nevertheless there are some activities which we must try as far as possible to keep going during the emergency—the next stage of the North Sea oil and gas programme is an obvious case. The Government are in touch with the steel industry on the identification of such special requirements and the maintenance of essential services.