asked the Secretary of State for Energy what study he has made of the use of fluidised bed combustion process in the design of new power stations.

My Department is associated with the National Coal Board, Babcock and Wilcox, Combustion Systems Ltd., and the Central Electricity Generating Board in studies on the application of pressurised fluidised bed combustion to power generation mounted in response to the recommendations in "Coal Technology", the report of the R & D working party of the coal industry tripartite group published in May last year.