asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is aware that considerable quantities of outcrop coal, containing a large proportion of rock, are reaching Birkenhead and district for domestic consumption; and whether he will make arrangements to stop this hardship.

Only a vey small proportion of house coal allocated to Birkenhead comes from opencast sites. A few complaints have been received about the quality of this coal but on investigation these were found to be unjustified. A special examination was, however, made of the opencast sites and it was found that the screening operations at one site were unsatisfactory. Steps have been taken to remedy this.