To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the loan which Coal Products Ltd. has negotiated from the European Coal and Steel Community.

I can confirm that Coal Products Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Coal, has been offered a £10,000,000 loan by the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The loan will attract an interest rate rebate worth about £1·8 million over the five-year life of the loan. The ECSC requires that the loan should be guaranteed. British Coal will act as guarantor and, in keeping with my predecessor's assurance to the House on 18 March 1988, the guarantee is being negotiated on commercial terms on an arm's-length basis.