§ Mr. Ormeasked the Secretary of State for Energy how much of the £50 million coal-firing budget scheme has been taken up.
§ Mr. Giles ShawIn December 1983 the budget for the coal-firing scheme was increased from £50 million to £75 million, and the period for applications was extended for a year to 31 December 1984.
On 30 April 1983, applications had been recorded in respect of a total of 591 projects with eligible costs of £448 million. Grants totalling over £26 million had been accepted in respect of 259 projects with costs of £116 million, and 104 projects with costs of £138 million were awaiting acceptance of grant offers worth £11 million or were still under consideration.
I regret that there were only 11 applications in the first 3 months of 1984, compared with 118 in the previous 3 months, due to the industrial action by some sections of the National Union of Mineworkers.