HC Deb 03 November 1994 vol 248 cc1251-2W
Mr. Tipping

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the consultancies undertaken by Warden Armstrong, mining consultants; what were their terms of reference; when they were started and completed; and at what cost.

Mr. Eggar

Wardell Armstrong were engaged from 5 August 1991 to provide advice to the Secretary of State on technical matters, including licensing, in connection with the privatisation of the coal industry. This work is continuing. Details of Wardell Armstrong's fees are commercially confidential.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to publish the bids for the British Coal opencast contract in south Wales.

Mr. Charles Wardle

British Coal frequently lets contracts to manage various aspects of its opencast coaling operations in South Wales and elsewhere. Publication of bids for such contracts would be a matter for British Coal.

There are no plans to publish the bids for the sale of the South Wales Regional Coal Company. This information is commercially confidential. It was announced on 12 October that the preferred bidder for South Wales is Celtic Energy.

Mr. Tipping

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what salaries the part-time members of the coal authority receive.

Mr. Charles Wardle

The part-time members of the Coal Authority receive a salary of £5,500 per annum.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what guidelines or procedures his Department has in place to ensure there are no conflicts of interests between managers at British Coal who manage tenders to the private sector and who subsequently sit on the board of a firm set up to operate such tenders or contracts.

Mr. Eggar

This is a matter for British Coal.

Mr. Cummings

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list for each coal stocking site in the county of Durham the length of planning consents for the stocking of coal, the owners of the sites and the tonnage of coal stocked on each site.

Mr. Charles Wardle

This is a matter for British Coal. However, I understand that the only such site in the county of Durham is the former Easington colliery site.

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