§ Mr. TippingTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the counties he and his ministerial colleagues have visited to discuss coal and energy issues since taking office; how many days each visit took; and if he will name the collieries visited.
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answer 17 February 1993]: As regards visits to collieries, I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) on 4 November 1992, Official Report, column 314. No further visits have taken place since.
Coal and energy are among the many issues my ministerial colleagues and I discuss in the course of the frequent visits we undertake. For example, I discussed these matters during my visits to the north-east on 27 July, 16 October and 10 December last year, in my role as sponsoring Minister for that region.