HC Deb 08 December 1992 vol 215 cc582-5W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the coalfields producing coal in 1962; and if he will list for each year since 1962 and the current year to date, for each area, the number of mines, the tonnage of coal produced and the number of miners together with(a) the number of mines closed, (b) the number of miners who lost their jobs, (c) the number made compulsorily redundant and (d) the percentage level of unemployment among adult male workers for the relevant employment districts.

Mr. Eggar

British Coal has reorganised its group structure several times since 1962. The tables show the number of operating collieries, the tonnage of saleable output of coal, and the number of men on colliery books for each year since 1962 for British Coal's current operating groups.

There have been no compulsory redundancies since 1962. Information on unemployment rates is available from the NOMIS database in the House of Commons Library. I regret that the other information requested cannot readily be provided.

Scotland North East Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Midlands and West Total
1977 20 31 66 27 94 238
1978 19 30 66 27 89 231
1979 16 28 64 27 88 223
1980 16 27 63 27 86 219
1981 15 24 62 26 84 211
1982 14 22 57 25 82 200
1983 13 18 56 25 79 191
1984 9 16 53 25 67 170
1985 9 15 53 25 67 169
1986 9 10 40 22 52 133
1987 6 8 36 20 40 110
1988 4 7 33 17 33 94
1989 2 7 32 16 29 86
1990 1 7 29 15 21 73
1991 1 7 26 15 16 65
1992 1 5 20 12 12 50

Saleable Output (m. tons/tonnes)
Scotland North East Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Midlands and West Total
Tons
1962 17.5 34.7 42.2 31.0 62.2 187.6
1963 17.1 34.0 42.6 31.2 63.6 188.5
1964 16.5 32.5 43.1 31.3 63.8 187.2
1965 15.5 31.2 43.5 31.1 62.4 183.7
1966 14.9 29.7 41.2 29.6 58.7 174.1
1967 14.4 27.2 38.9 23.2 60.9 164.6
1968 13.7 26.1 40.2 22.8 59.9 162.7
1969 12.6 23.2 40.1 22.8 54.3 153.0
1970 11.1 20.5 35.9 22.9 49.4 139.8
1971 11.2 18.9 34.8 22.7 45.7 133.3
1972 10.4 15.5 29.6 18.0 35.7 109.2
1973 11.1 17.6 36.1 21.7 40.5 127.0
1974 8.8 13.5 27.4 16.9 30.5 97.1
1975 10.0 14.6 32.3 20.5 37.6 115.0
1976 9.7 14.4 31.4 20.2 36.9 112.6
1977 9.0 12.9 30.7 19.4 34.7 106.7
1978 8.3 12.6 30.4 19.7 33.6 104.6
Tonnes
1979 8.1 12.9 30.1 19.6 34.7 105.4
1980 8.1 14.1 31.4 20.6 35.1 109.3
1981 7.8 14.2 31.6 20.9 35.8 110.3
1982 7.3 13.5 31.3 20.9 35.9 108.9
1983 6.7 12.5 31.0 20.7 34.0 104.9
1984 5.3 11.0 26.4 18.6 28.8 90.1
1985 0.3 0.4 0.6 14.8 11.6 27.7
1986 4.3 9.6 26.8 18.7 29.0 88.4
1987 3.4 10.2 27.3 18.1 29.0 88.0
1988 2.6 10.3 26.2 17.6 25.7 82.4
1989 1.9 10.3 29.4 17.2 26.2 85.0
1990 2.0 10.3 25.0 16.8 21.5 75.6
1991 2.2 9.0 25.0 16.9 19.2 72.3
1992 2.2 7.5 28.0 17.3 16.0 71.0

Men on Books (at year end)
(Thousands)
Year Scotland North East Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Midlands and West Total
1962 58.8 112.4 113.9 58.5 192.6 536.2
1963 57.4 107.3 113.9 58.6 195.3 532.5
1964 52.9 99.7 110.5 56.7 185.5 505.3
1965 49.6 93.5 106.0 54.5 173.7 477.3
1966 44.9 83.7 100.2 51.2 156.2 436.2
1967 41.9 75.5 96.1 40.4 155.8 409.7
1968 36.0 64.7 88.3 38.4 137.4 364.8
1969 31.5 54.5 79.6 35.6 117.5 318.7
1970 30.1 48.6 75.3 34.8 106.9 295.7
1971 30.1 48.1 72.6 35.4 100.2 286.4
1972 28.4 46.4 70.0 34.4 94.8 274.0
1973 26.7 42.7 68.6 34.0 91.6 263.6

Year Scotland North East Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Midlands and West Total
1974 24.3 38.2 64.4 32.0 83.6 242.5
1975 24.8 37.2 67.3 33.3 86.2 248.8
1976 23.6 35.8 66.6 33.3 84.4 243.7
1977 22.9 34.9 67.5 33.6 83.2 242.1
1978 21.9 35.0 66.5 33.9 82.0 239.3
1979 21.0 33.8 64.8 33.6 79.2 232.4
1980 21.0 33.4 65.6 34.5 78.7 233.2
1981 19.8 32.0 63.3 33.6 76.1 224.8
1982 17.4 29.0 60.7 33.0 72.7 212.8
1983 16.5 26.4 59.3 32.0 68.5 202.7
1984 13.1 22.9 53.9 29.2 62.0 181.1
1985 11.3 21.9 52.0 27.5 58.7 171.4
1986 7.7 17.9 38.1 26.2 48.6 138.5
1987 4.5 14.4 33.2 20.6 37.2 109.9
1988 3.5 11.8 27.2 16.6 29.9 89.0
1989 2.4 10.8 25.6 15.0 26.4 80.2
1990 1.5 9.5 21.2 13.5 19.7 65.4
1991 1.4 8.6 19.3 13.8 14.2 57.3
1992 1.3 6.1 15.3 11.2 9.8 43.7

Mr. Tipping

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what the cost and expenses were for the work which his Department commissioned into the future of the coal industry by Rothschilds and by Boyds.

Mr. Eggar

Fees paid to Government advisers are commercially confidential. Total expenditure on coal privatisation is reported to Parliament in the usual way through the publication of departmental estimates and the annual appropriation accounts.

Mr. Conway

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about progress in the coal review.

Mr. Heseltine

I sent the Chairman of the Trade and Industry Select Committee a progress report on 7 December listing the main areas and options for consideration identified by evidence submitted to the coal review. Copies of the progress report have been placed in the Library.