HC Deb 03 March 1980 vol 980 cc13-4W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish in the Official Report a statement showing what subsidies have been paid to the electricity generating boards over the past 10 years to persuade them to use coal rather than oil and the occasions on which the chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board has formally requested such a subsidy; and whether he is satisfied that the boards now appreciate the need for a long-term view of their responsibilities.

Mr. Norman Lamont

I am advised that no subsidies have been paid to the Central Electricity Generating Board over the past 10 years to persuade it to use coal rather than oil, neither has the chairman formally requested such a subsidy. Government assistance has been made available to the NCB to promote increased coal burn. The schemes were devised in such a way as to ensure that the CEGB, and thus the electricity consumer, was neither better nor worse off as a result of the additional coal burn. I am satisfied that the CEGB and NCB appreciate the need to take a long term view of their responsibilities. The electricity industries in Scotland and Northern Ireland and the responsibility of my Right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland respecttively.