§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) whether he will now undertake discussions with the National Coal Board regarding the board's financial structure with particular reference to its increasing interest charges;
(2) whether he will now take steps to write off loans to the National Coal Board and the cost of servicing those loans; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawNo. Payments of deficit grant to the NCB reduce the amounts which the board has to borrow, and have since 1981–82 exceeded the board's payments of interest. I do not believe that at the present time writing off borrowing which the Board has incurred largely to finance its substantial capital investment programme would help the achievement of a commercially viable coal industry showing a satisfactory return on assets.