§ Mr. HainTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what were the figures for British Coal stocks at each site in the United Kingdom in 1992, 1993 and at the latest available date;
(2) what was the percentage of British Coal stocks to output for each British Coal region in the United Kingdom in 1992, 1993 and the latest available date.
Mr. O'NeillTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what safeguards are in place during the sale of British Coal to prevent the future owners of the regional coal companies being disadvantaged in negotiations on future coal sale contracts by disclosure of confidential information to other bidders who have interests in power generation.
§ Mr. EggarAll pre-qualifiers for the regional coal companies have signed strict confidentiality undertakings covering the disclosure or use of any information made available to them. Breach of those undertakings could lead to forfeit of their deposits, disqualification from the tender and, if appropriate, legal proceedings.
Mr. O'NeillTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how much and what percentage of British Coal's privatisation costs in 1993–94 were spent on consultants.
Mr. O'NeillTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how much his Department spent in 1993–94 on advice on coal privatisation by consultants.
§ Mr. EggarThe Department's expenditure on coal privatisation consultants in 1993–94 was approximately £10.2 million, including VAT.