§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for Energy if the Government are satisfied with the effectiveness of the coal mining subsidence compensation system.
§ Mr. John MooreThe Government are to set up a thorough and independent review of the operation of the coal mining subsidence compensation system.
My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Energy, Environment, Scotland and Wales have been considering the report, published in September 1981, by the Commission on Energy and the Environment on coal and the environment. Among many recommendations on subsidence and other issues, the commission emphasised in particular the importance of the NCB handling subsidence problems sensitively, speedily and efficiently. The NCB's code of practice on subsidence has been in operation now for over five years, and the Government therefore believe it would be timely to examine how it is working.
The review will be wide-ranging. Its terms of reference will be:
To examine the practical problems of the operation of the repair/compensation system for coal mining subsidence damage; to consider possible improvements and to report.The review will be carried out by an independent committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Lewis Waddilove CBE, JP, who is deputy chairman of the Housing Corporation, chairman of York university council 153W and a former director of the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust. I have placed today in the Library of the House a copy of a letter which I have sent to Mr. Waddilove which explains the context in which the review will be carried out.
It will be open to any interested parties or individuals to give evidence to the committee, and the review's findings will be published. The committee will include members from relevant professions as well as lay people; details of those appointed, and the arrangements for presenting evidence to the committee, will be announced shortly. I expect the committee to begin work soon and to report by the end of the year.
The Government will be responding to all the other recommendations in the CENE report in a White Paper to be published very soon.
European Regional Development Fund: Aid Committed to the United Kingdom in 1982 £'000 Industrial projects Infrastructure projects Region Total Amounts for designated inner city districts Total Amounts for designated inner city districts England 29,387 104 87,247 40,678 of which: North 28,741 — 30835 17,988 Yorkshire and Humberside 393 104 19,595 9,646 North West 253 — 28,078 13,044 East Midlands — — 1,415 — South West — — 7,323 — Scotland 1,940 159 61,687 11,344 Wales 14,773 6,063 35,891 11,040 Northern Ireland 3,350 *N/A 20,099 *N/A United Kingdom 49,450 6,326 204,924 63,062 * However, fund aid of £0.3 million and of £5.2 million respectively was committed to industrial and infrastructure projects located in the Belfast inner city area, which is not a designated inner city district under the Inner Urban Areas Act 1978.