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Coal Board (Registrations)

Volume 523: debated on Monday 1 February 1954

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50.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power to state, for each National Coal Board division and for Great Britain as a whole the extent to which the board is the distributing agency for retail of domestic coal supplies; the extent to which this coal distribution by the board has increased since the passing of the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act, 1946; and how far it is his policy to encourage the board to acquire privately-owned domestic coal selling agencies.

This is primarily a matter for the National Coal Board under its powers accorded in the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act and over Great Britain as a whole, the National Coal Board's share of the domestic coal trade has increased during the last seven years by about one-tenth of 1 per cent.: it now stands at 2·9 per cent.

With permission, I will circulate the figures for particular divisions in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Is the Coal Board's retail distribution more economic than the privately-owned system of distribution? What difficulty prevents the taking over of this part of the distribution system?

I think that the efficiency of the various retail distribution systems will best be judged by the public themselves when, as we hope, price control and restrictions are soon done away with.

:Can the Minister say what is his answer to the last part of the Question?

Following are the figures:

NUMBER OF REGISTRATIONS WITH THE NATIONAL COAL BOARD FOR DOMESTIC COAL SUPPLIES ON VESTING DATE AND ON 31ST OCTOBER, 1953
National Coal Board DivisionVesting Date (1st January, 1947)31st October, 1953
Scotland24,49320,367
Northern (N. & C.)73,59641,190
Durham37,411
North Eastern34,15232,745
North western159,536208,583
East Midlands23,85029,460
West Midlands48,90169,852
South Western47,67342,187
South Eastern603424
Total Registrations with National Coal Board412,804482,219
Total Registrations Great Britain14,904,55416,624,231

Percentage: National Coal Board

2·82·9