asked the Minister of Power what plans he has to introduce legislation to give greater powers of diversification to the National Coal Board.

The board's existing powers are already wide, but I am considering the need for extending them.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the National Coal Board has been investing public money in the building supplies industry, including an American-controlled firm? Under what powers can the board do this, and when did Parliament give approval to this creeping nationalisation?

If the suggestion is that the board is acting illegally, the hon. Gentleman should raise the point. If the suggestion is merely that the board is using its initiative within the confines of its remit, I should have thought that this was wholly admirable.