§ Dr. Michael Clarkasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the estimated outturn external financing requirements of the electricity supply industry in England and Wales and of the National Coal Board for 1985–86.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe outturn external financing requirement for the electricity supply industry in England and Wales in 1985–86 is provisionally estimated at minus £457 million. The improvement over the estimated outturn of minus £400 million given in the 1986 public expenditure White Paper (Cmnd. 9702.11) mainly reflects higher sales of electricity during the cold winter. The main reason for the lower level of repayment compared with the external financing limit of minus £1,128 million was the cost of rebuilding coal stocks and higher interest charges resulting from the costs incurred during the miners' strike. These were not allowed for when the EFL was set before the start of 1985–86. There is therefore no question of any consequential reduction in the 1986–87 external financing limit.
The outturn external financing requirement of the National Coal Board for 1985–86 has provisionally been estimated at £435 million. This welcome improvement over the EFL of £929 million and the estimated outturn for the year of £740 million given in the 1986 public expenditure White Paper, reflects the sale of coal stocks to the electricity supply industry and faster than anticipated progress made by the board in recovering after the strike.
The net change in public expenditure comparing estimated outturn with EFL plans for these two industries taken together is £177 million. This was charged to the reserve and was therefore within the public expenditure planning total.