§ Sir John Langford-Holtasked the Secretary of State for Energy how coal production for the year ended 31 March compares with production for the preceding year; and to what he attributes this change.
§ Mr. EadieProduction figures for the final two weeks of 1978–79 are not yet available. Cumulative production for the 51 weeks ended 17 March 1979 was 117.3 million tonnes compared with 118.3 million tonnes for the corresponding period in 1977–78.
627WUntil the end of December, production in 1978–79 was well ahead of that of the preceding year. By the end of December it was some 840,000 tonnes higher than in the equivalent period of 1977–78.
Since then output has been affected by a number of disputes outside the industry—particularly those in road haulage and on the railways—and also by the consequences of adverse weather conditions on both colliery and opencast working.