HC Deb 04 December 1992 vol 215 cc442-7W
Mr. Tipping

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list those individuals and organisations which have made submissions to his review of the coal industry and identify those submissions which are confidential; and if he will place the remainder in the Library.

Mr. Eggar

[holding answer 3 December 1992]: The individuals and organisations who have submitted evidence to the coal review, and whose evidence has been received by the review team at 5.30 pm on 3 December, are listed and total 277 submissions. Those whose submissions include confidential material are marked with an asterisk. Copies of the evidence which is not confidential are being placed in the Library.

  • Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce
  • Action Group on Northern Ireland Electricity Prices
  • Adams, J. M. S.
  • AEA Technology
  • Alliance Gas Limited
  • AMCO Corporation plc
  • Amerada Hess Limited
    • 443
  • Amos, J.—Hoare Lea and Partners
  • Anglo United plc
  • Antrim Coal Company Limited*
  • Anyon, R. (Shop Steward at BNFL Springfields) and P. Logue.
  • Apparel, Knitting and Textiles Alliance
  • Applied Energy Services Electric Limited
  • Architects and Engineers for Social Responsibility
  • ARCO British Limited
  • ASEA Brown Boveri*
  • Associated Electricity Suppliers Ltd*
  • Associated Octel Company Limited*
  • Association for the Conservation of Energy
  • Association of British Mining Equipment Companies
  • Association of Independent Electricity Producers
  • Babcock Energy Limited
  • Ball, S.
  • Barking Power Limited
  • Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Bassetlaw District Council
  • Black, A.
  • Blue Circle Industries Ltd.
  • Botham Engineering Limited
  • BP BITOR Limited
  • BP Exploration Operating Company Limited
  • BRINDEX
  • British Alcan Aluminium plc
  • British Association of Colliery Management
  • Britsh Ceramic Confederation
  • British Coal Corporation
  • British Gas plc
  • British Nuclear Forum
  • British Nuclear Fuels plc*
  • British Wind Energy Association
  • Broadland District Council
  • Brunner Mond and Company Limited
  • Cairn Energy plc
  • Caledonian Mining Co. Ltd.
  • Carribine c—Low Valleyfield Residents' Association
  • Centre for Intermediate Mining Research Limited
  • Chamber of Coal Traders Limited
  • Chemical Industries Association
  • Chesterfield Borough Council
  • Chriswoll Jones, J.
  • Churches Energy Group
  • City of Nottingham Development Department
  • City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
  • Clackmannan District Council (Alloa)
  • Clay Colliery Company Ltd.
  • Clwyd County Council
  • Coal Advisory Service
  • Coalfield Communities Campaign
  • Cobex Limited
  • Combined Heat and Power Association
  • Communist Party of Great Britain
  • Confederation of British Industry
  • Confederation of British Industry (Northern Ireland)
  • Confederation of UK Coal Producers
  • Conoco (UK) Ltd.
  • Consortium of Opposing Local Authorities
  • Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
  • Co-operative Wholesale Society
  • Cory Environmental Ltd.
  • Council for the Protection of Rural England
  • Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland
  • Country Landowners Association
  • Countryside Council for Wales
  • County Planning Officers' Society
  • Cox, H.
  • Co-Steel Inc.
  • Currall Lewis & Martin Ltd.
  • Cytun Industrial & Economic Affairs Network (Welsh Clergy)
  • Day, A. C.
  • Derbyshire County Council
  • Digby Worthy, W.
  • Domestic Coal Consumers' Council
  • Durham County Council
  • E. Gas Limited
  • East Midlands Electricity Consumers' Committee
    • 444
  • East Midlands Electricity plc.
  • Eastern Electricity plc.
  • Eastern Region Electricity Consumers' Association
  • Electricity Consumers' Committee, Merseyside and North Wales
  • Electricity Consumers' Committee for London
  • Electricity Consumers' Committee Southern Region
  • Electricity Pool of England and Wales
  • Electricity Supply Trade Union Council
  • Energy and Chemical Projects Ltd.
  • Energy Information Centre1
  • Energy Intensive Users Group/Major Energy Users Council
  • Energy upply Company Ltd.1
  • Engineering Consultancy Services Ltd.
  • English Nature
  • Enron Europe Limited
  • Esso Exploration and Production UK Ltd.
  • Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors
  • Federation of Small Mines of GB
  • Fells, Professor—Newcastle University
  • Fenton Solid Fuels Ltd.
  • Fife Regional Council
  • Food and Drink Federation
  • Forest of Dean District Council
  • Foster Wheeler Energy Limited
  • Friends of the Earth
  • Galvanizers Association
  • Gas Consumers Council
  • Gas Strategies
  • GEC Alsthom Limited
  • General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland
  • Gilbert, F.
  • Glyn, A.
  • Godfrey, D. F.—Lerken & Co. Solicitors
  • Grampian Regional Council
  • Greenpeace
  • Gruber, P. A.
  • Leverton Limited*
  • Hamilton Oil Company Ltd.*
  • Harrison, K.
  • Harvey, R. E. A.
  • Hawkes, G.
  • Highland Regional Council
  • Hopkinson, D.
  • Horrocks, R.
  • I. & H. Brown Limited
  • ICI Chemicals and Polymers Ltd.
  • Institute of Civil Engineers
  • Institute of Economic Affairs
  • Institute of Energy
  • Institution of Mining Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
  • Institution of Mining Engineers
  • Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists
  • Ivo Energy Limited
  • Jervis, R. M.
  • Johnson Matthey plc
  • Kelt UK Ltd.
  • Kingsnorth Developments Ltd.
  • LASMO North Sea plc
  • LE Energy
  • Leicester City Council
  • Lester, Jim MP
  • Levack Civil Engineering
  • Liberal Democrats
  • Liebherr GB Ltd.
  • Lipman, Professor N. H.
  • Loadmaster Ltd.
  • London Electricity plc
  • Lynam, F.
  • Lytham St. Annes Methodist Circuit Social Responsibility Committee
  • Mansfield District Council
  • Manweb plc*
  • Marks and Spencer plc
  • Mason, J.
  • McAlpine, G.
  • Mechanical Handling Engineers' Association
  • MECO AFC Ltd.
  • Merz and McLellan Limited
  • Metropolitan Planning Officers' Society
    • 445
  • Mid Glamorgan County Council
  • Midlands Consumers' Committee
  • Midlands Electricity plc
  • Midlands Electricity plc/Central Power
  • Miller Mining
  • Millington, Mrs. G.
  • Mining Association of the United Kingdom
  • Mobil Gas Marketing (UK) Ltd.
  • Monktonhall Mineworkers Ltd.
  • Monument Oil and Gas plc*
  • National Association of Colliery Overmen Deputies and Shotfirers
  • National Association of Licensed Opencast Operators
  • National Association of Local government Officers
  • National Consumer Council
  • National Engineering Construction Employers' Association
  • National Grid Company plc
  • National Network of Chaplains in the Electricity Supply Industry
  • National Network of Coal Industry Chaplains
  • National Power plc*
  • National Rivers Authority
  • National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection
  • National Union of Mineworkers
  • Newark and Sherwood District Council
  • Nicholson, K.
  • Non-Fossil Purchasing Agency Ltd.
  • North Derbyshire Health Authority
  • North Eastern Region Electricity Consumers' Committee
  • Northern Ireland Electricity plc
  • NORWEB*
  • Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  • Nottinghamshire County Council
  • Nottinghamshire Rural Community Council
  • NSM plc
  • Nuclear Electric plc*
  • Nykomb Synergetics
  • O & K Orenstein and Koppel Ltd.
  • Offshore Contractors Council
  • Offshore Manufacturers and Constructors Association
  • Oil and Chemcial Plant Constructors Association
  • Open University Energy and Environment Research Unit
  • Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
  • Parkhill Estates Limited
  • Pearce, A. J.
  • Phillips Petroleum Company United Kingdom Limited
  • Point of Ayr Colliery Survival Committee
  • Pontefract Graders Ltd.
  • Powergen plc*
  • Powys County Council
  • R. J. B. Mining Ltd.
  • Rackwood Colliery Co. Ltd.
  • Regional Studies Association
  • Reynolds, J.—Merrill Lynch
  • Robinson, D.
  • Rolls Royce plc
  • Rotherham and District Trades Union Council
  • Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council*
  • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
  • Royal Institution of International Affairs
  • Royal Town Planning Institute
  • Safecom UEP Ltd.
  • Save the Moors From Opencast (SHAMROC)
  • Scottish Hydro Electric plc*
  • Scottish Natural Heritage
  • Scottish Northern Region Electricity Users' Sub-Committee
  • Scottish Nuclear Limited*
  • Scottish Power
  • Scottish Trades Union Congress
  • Seabridge, A. T.*
  • Seeboard plc
  • Severn Tidal Power Group
  • Shawater Ltd.
  • Sheerness Steel Company plc
  • Shell UK Ltd.
  • Shepway Friends of the Earth
  • Shirebrook Traders Association
  • Skegness 2000
  • Slough Trading Estates Ltd.
  • Smith, E.
    • 446
  • South Eastern Regional Electricity Consumers' Committee
  • South Wales Electricity plc*
  • South Wales Region Consumers' Committee
  • South Western Electricity plc
  • South Western Regional Electricity Consumers' Committee
  • Southern Electric plc*
  • Southern Scotland Electricity Consumers' Committee
  • Staffordshire County Council
  • Standing Conference on Regional Policy in South Wales
  • Statoil UK Ltd.
  • Taylor Woodrow Mining Division
  • Texaco
  • Trades Union Congress
  • Trainload Freight
  • Transport and General Workers Union
  • Tyne and Wear Chamber of Commerce, Trade and Industry
  • UK Offshore Operators Association Ltd.
  • UK Onshore Operators Group
  • Union of Democratic Mineworkers
  • United Gas Company Limited
  • Viscosuisse Textured Yarns
  • Walker, J. F.
  • Ward Brothers Mining Division Ltd.
  • Watt Committee on Energy
  • Watt, J.
  • WEFA Energy Group*
  • West Midlands Regional Forum of Local Authorities
  • Westoe Colliery Campaign Group
  • World Solar Power Foundation
  • Yorkshire Electricity Group plc*
  • Yorkshire Opencast Objectors
  • Yorkshire Water Services Limited*
  • Young Group plc*

Mr. Carrington

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the coal contract negotiations between British Coal and the electricity supply industry following the coal review he announced on 21 October.

Mr. Hesetine

I wrote to the chairman of British Coal yesterday in the following terms:

You asked for my views on British Coal's contract negotiations with the electricity supply industry following the Review I announced on 21 October.

As you know, in my statement to the House on 21 October, I announced a wide-ranging Review of the prospects of the 21 pits proposed for closure but not subject to statutory consultation. The Review will decide whether the case for closure of each of the 21 pits has been fully made and whether it is sensible to mothball any of these pits. I also made it clear that the Review would consider whether the market prospects for coal had been correctly assessed, and that it would look at the level of coal stocks, both at the pithead and at the power stations, and whether plans to run them down were sensibly phased.

The Review will consider views and evidence on the future of each of the pits in question, in the context of the Government's energy policy, including the consequences of that policy for British Coal and employment prospects for the industry. The Review will decide whether the case for closure at each of the pits in question had been fully made and whether the market prospects for coal have been correctly assessed.

The future of the British coal industry depends crucially on the level of its sales to the power generators. The Corporation's current coal supply contracts with National Power and PowerGen for 65 million tonnes expire on 31 March 1993. British Coal's proposals to close 31 pits reflected the assessment that you were unlikely to sell the power generators more than 40 million tonnes of coal in 1993–94. The Government's decision to launch the Review was taken against the background, among other factors, of widespread concern and representations that there could be a market for substantially higher tonnages.

Negotiations on future contracts are of course a matter for the coal and electricity industries. However, against the background to the Review, and the deep Parliamentary and public concern about its outcome, I hope that British Coal and the other parties to the contract negotiations will find it possible to agree arrangements which will ensure a sound and stable basis for the British coal industry and the electricity supply industry to plan their business at least for 1993–94, and pending implementation of options identified in the light of the Review of the prospects of the 21 pits.

I am looking to all the parties concerned to ensure that any contracts which may be agreed do not prejudice the outcome of the Review.

I am therefore copying this letter to National Power and PowerGen and the twelve regional electricity companies so that they are aware of the Government's views. I am also sending a copy to the Chairman of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry and proposing to make it available to MPs through a written statement and to issue a press notice.

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