To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many dockers are employed in handling coal produced in Britain.

No information is collected centrally about the number of dock workers handling specific commodities. In 1989, there were five ports at which British coal accounted for over 40 per cent. by weight of goods loaded in the port: Tyne, Blyth, Ayr, Garston and Workington. These ports accounted for 84 per cent. of the coal shipped from all British ports. The latest available survey of port manpower, carried out in March 1989, showed that 308 dock workers were employed in these ports.