§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish a table indicating, on the basis of the latest available information, the average subsidy per tonne of coal produced in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Germany, respectively.
§ Mr. John MooreThe latest available information on production subsidies to coal industries in the European community relates to 1981 (or 1981–82 in the case of the United Kingdom) and is as follows:
£/tonne Belgium 24.9 France 12.5 Federal Republic of Germany 6.7 United Kingdom 3.6 Subsidies have also been provided for social costs such as pensions, transfer and redundancy payments. The figures for Community coal industries are not comparable, however, since they do not take into account the variations in social security arrangements in the different countries.