Oral Answers to Questions — Coal – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 February 1954.
Mr Patrick Bartley
, Chester-le-Street
12:00,
1 February 1954
asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what amount of the £203,773,258 compensation paid since 1947 to the previous owners of the coalmining industry represents interest payment.
Mr Geoffrey Lloyd
, Birmingham King's Norton
None, Sir.
Mr Patrick Bartley
, Chester-le-Street
The right hon. Gentleman has not answered my Question. Can he say whether the whole of this £203 million is chargeable to the industry? If that is so, will he confirm that without this charge the nationalised coal industry would have made a handsome profit since 1947?
Mr Geoffrey Lloyd
, Birmingham King's Norton
I have answered the Question correctly, but the hon. Gentleman's supplementary is quite a different proposition.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
With great respect, the right hon. Gentleman has misunderstood the point. Is it not true that some part of the amount stated in the Question includes interest paid on the capital sum? Surely, it must do. Surely some interest has been paid.
Mr Geoffrey Lloyd
, Birmingham King's Norton
No, Sir, not included in the figure that has been given.
Mr Patrick Bartley
, Chester-le-Street
I understand that £164 million was the valuation on the industry originally, but it is now more than £200 million. There must be some explanation.
Mr. Slater:
As the mining industry now belongs to the nation, can the Minister say what considerations the Government have given to this question of compensation being transferred from the mining industry and placed upon the Treasury?
Mr Geoffrey Lloyd
, Birmingham King's Norton
We are proceeding under the Act passed by the last Government.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
