§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Minister for Energy if he will publish a table showing the average weekly number of hours worked by underground workers in the mining industry for each of the past 12 months.
§ Mr. EmeryI regret the information is not available. The following information relates to the average weekly manshifts—including overtime shifts—of NCB underground workers. Within the NCB a manshift is the normal period of attendance at the colliery by one man in one day, that is, in most cases now 7¼ hours plus one winding time underground.
January 3.88 February 4.21 March 4.21 April 3.89 May 4.17 June 3.81 July 3.46 August 3.14 September 3.87 October 4.17* November 40.3* December 3.15* * Excludes S. Wales and Scotland. The above averages are based on men on books. They therefore reflect the effect of absences, holidays, etc.