§ Mr. Ray Powellasked the Secretary of State for Wales how much coal has been imported into Wales each month since January 1980; what the purposes of the imports were; what was the average price per ton; and whether, and to what extent, the coal was subsidised by the Government in the country of origin for its production or transport.
§ Mr. John MooreI have been asked to reply.
Provisional figures for imports of coal into Welsh ports are shown below. Nearly all these imports come from USA—97 per cent. with the remainder being supplied by Australia—2 per cent. the Netherlands—1 per cent.—and the Republic of Ireland—negligible. None of these countries pay coal production or transport subsidies.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give an evaluation of the annual cost of research work undertaken at Winfrith, Dorset and the percentage he estimates which is non-nuclear.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe cost of the work at Winfrith in 1980–81 is estimated at £28 million, of which £16 million will be recovered from sales of electricity supplied from the Winfrith reactor to the CEGB and contract research. About a tenth of the effort at the site is devoted to non-nuclear work, mainly on oil recovery programmes.