asked the Minister for Energy if he will publish a table showing the net outflow of miners, over and above recruitment, from the mining industry in each year since 1960; and, of these, how many left voluntarily before normal retirement age, and how many became redundant.
Figures on wastage and net outflow from the mining industry for 1960 and 1965–1972 were published in Table 25 of "United Kingdom Energy Statistics, 1973" (HMSO, 1973). This table relates to all wage earners on NCB colliery books, and shows—among other causes of wastage—how many became redundant and how many left voluntarily before normal retirement age. It is not possible to analyse the net outflow by cause of wastage. The following figures relate to years not included in the published table:
| Year | Net outflow | Total voluntary wastage* | Number total redundancies |
| 1961 | 21,822 | 52,333 | 401 |
| 1962 | 24,952 | 35,552 | Not available |
| 1963 | 25,618 | 23,589 | 4,334 |
| 1964 | 26,037 | 35,013 | 2,227 |
| 1965 | 37,731 | 44,902 | 1,844 |
| 1966 | 32,434 | 39,893 | 3,243 |
| 1967 | 32,001 | 28,168 | 7,196 |
| 1968 | 57,257 | 29,175 | 24,418 |
| 1969 | 24,949 | 24,673 | 9,582 |
| 1970 | 16,472 | 22,398 | 6,148 |
| 1971 | 4,299 | 15,240 | 4,182 |
| 1972 | 12,859 | 9,673 | 6,817 |
| 1973† | 20,559 | 21,360 | 7,264 |
| * "Other wastage" in published table. | |||
| † Provisional. | |||
asked the Minister for Energy if he will publish the total wage bill of the National Coal Board, together with the amount of its current offer to the National Union of Mine-workers.
The total wage bill of the National Coal Board in 1972–73 was £467·4 million. The annual cost of the board's offer to the National Union of Mineworkers is £44·5 million, calculated in accordance with the current Price and Pay Code. That amount represents 13 per cent. of the miners' pay bill, as defined in the code. In addition, the board has proposed, subject to approval by the Pay Board, to introduce a productivity scheme which could add a further 3½ per cent.