Opencast Mining

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 17 September 2013.

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Photo of Fergus Ewing Fergus Ewing Scottish National Party

I start by welcoming to the public gallery Councillor Jim Roberts, a member of the task force, together with his colleague Councillor Stephanie Primrose. They have sat through the whole debate this afternoon. I also pay tribute to their colleagues on the task force, including council members from various parties and trade union officials. Without their contributions, rooted in the community and experienced in the industry, we would not be where we are now and we would not have achieved the successes that we have achieved.

There have been four or five meetings of the task force. Derek Mackay and I were grateful for the invitation extended by the chief executive and convener of East Ayrshire Council to see for ourselves some of the impacts that they have in the opencast mines. We spent the best part of a day doing that, contrary to what Mr Rennie, who is not here, implied in his statement.

I welcome and thank all those members of the task force across the parties in this chamber for their contribution. I do not think that I have ever chaired a bigger task force—at one point, there were nearly 60 people on it. I do not know whether I can prune the numbers, if there are any volunteers.

Looking forward, I have planned a number of strands of work with all parties in this chamber in an open and co-operative fashion. First, I am due to meet bondholders to discuss some of the difficulties that have arisen. I will be working closely with the councils in that regard. Secondly, the litigation is sub judice but I will continue to engage with the liquidators as is appropriate.

Thirdly, I will continue to explore with the UK Government whether any of the substantial contribution that the industry pays to the Coal Authority, which amounts to a great number of millions of pounds—I believe from recent figures that the levy is 17p a tonne, although only 1p of that is in fact funded to the Coal Authority—can be used in part to meet the restoration costs. Many members have rightly said that the industry has responsibility. The industry has made a contribution but, at the moment, I am not sure exactly what the contribution has done, where it has gone or what it is for. The vast majority of it has gone straight into the consolidated fund. I am not making any political points, but I think that the Parliament would expect me to pursue that issue—and pursue it I will.

Lastly, in respect of the work going forward, we will hold at least two further meetings of the task force, and possibly more, as required—we will see. In addition to that, I confirm that we have asked Scottish Enterprise, in a letter from me to Lena Wilson at the outset of these problems, following the administration of the two companies, to look particularly at the predicament facing East Ayrshire. Adam Ingram, who has worked tirelessly in the task force, asked for that assurance and I have given it to him. I will personally attend meetings, the detail of which Mr Ingram and I have already had some discussions about.

Willie Coffey was right to highlight that the Ayrshire communities have already been affected severely by the aftermath of the Diageo closures. Mr Swinney, who is here in the chamber, and I recognise the severe predicaments faced in East Ayrshire and, at a strategic level, the need not only to diversify into other areas but to work with the existing employers.

On Claire Baker’s remarks and the comments in the Labour amendment about planning, we believe that the current policy is quite clear. We have consulted over the summer on slight amendments, and we feel that the issue is the operation of the policy locally, which would benefit from further advice and guidance. Following the debate, Mr Mackay will write to Claire Baker with as much detail as we have at the moment. We will explore that issue further during the consultation process.

In August, despite the issues of redundancies in the sector, Scottish opencast mines produced 448,000 tonnes of coal. By contrast, only 332,000 tonnes were produced last month in England. The industry sustains 1,500 direct full-time jobs and 3,000 indirect full-time jobs. It contributes around £0.5 billion to the economy per annum. Last year, Scotland produced 4.8 million tonnes of coal. At least 12 million tonnes of reserves remain, and possibly much more.

The industry provides average salaries of £42,000, which is well above the Scottish average of £22,000. One wonders where on earth jobs offering such salaries would be found were the industry to be closed, as the Liberals and the Greens would have it if their amendment were approved—which, fortunately, it will not be.

In the winter, coal regularly generates around 45 per cent of the UK’s electricity—a point that was made by Conservative, Labour and SNP members—and more than half our coal is exported to England, contributing to the UK’s electricity generation system.