Britain: An official handbook > 1977

ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
253
Consumption
Production and
Productivity
Financial
Structure
Capital
Investment
rights over the extraction of coal in Great Britain, but is empowered to license
private operators to work small mines and opencast sites. It has no monopoly
in distribution and retail sales remain largely in private hands, although it
makes bulk sales to large industrial consumers. Two holding companies,
wholly owned by the NCB, run most of its non-mining activities. NCB
(Ancillaries) Limited’s responsibilities include certain retail fuel distribution
operations, computer services and engineering services. NCB (Coal Products)
Limited is responsible for solid smokeless fuel manufacture and chemical
and by-products plants.
At the end of March 1976 there were 241 NCB collieries in operation
grouped into 12 areas, each controlled by a director responsible to the NCB.
The main coal-bearing areas are shown on the map on p. 254.
Coal accounted for 90 per cent of primary energy consumption in 1950, but
growing competition from oil and gas and the elimination pf steam trains on
the railways contributed to the fall in demand from the mid-1950s. In
1975-76 internal consumption of coal was 120-3 million tons, of which 62
per cent went to power stations, 15 per cent to coke ovens and 9 per cent to
domestic users.
Exports of coal and coal briquettes in 1975-76 were 1-4 million tons,
almost all of which went to Western European countries. In 1975-76 imports
amounted to 4-7 million tons.
In 1975-76 output of 123-8 million tons comprised 112-6 million tons from
the NCB’s deep mines, 10-2 million tons from opencast mines and 1 million
tons from licensed mines and other sources. The fall in demand during the
1950s and 1960s was accompanied by increases in productivity in the
industry and resulted in a rundown of the labour force at NCB mines from
some 700,000 in 1947 to 244,000 in March 1976. Productivity as a whole has
risen by about one-quarter since 1965-66 to 2-2 tons per manshift in 1975 -76;
at the coal face it has more than doubled over the last 20 years to 7-8 tons per
manshift in 1975-76.
Higher productivity has been achieved by concentrating on the more
productive collieries and coalfaces and by using advanced machinery and
techniques, including machines which cut and automatically load coal on to
conveyors, self-advancing powered roof supports and improved underground
transport and communications. Mechanisation has been extended to nearly
all coalfaces. Table 19 shows the main trends in the industry since 1965.
In 1975-76 the NCB’s income was £2,194 million including sales of coal of
£1,671 million and grants under the Coal Industry Acts of £32-4 million. The
operating profit was £52-2 million; after interest payments and other items
there was a net surplus of £5-3 million. Government assistance to the industry
took the form of grants towards the social costs of mine closures and contribu¬
tions towards the mineworkers’ pension scheme. The NCB’s borrowing limit
was raised from £700 million to £1,100 million under the National Coal Board
(Finance) Act 1976 and may be increased up to £1,400 million subject to the
approval of the House of Commons.
Capital expenditure on collieries amounted to £211 million in 1975-76. In
1974 the Government, the NCB and the coalmining trade unions carried out a
tripartite study of the policy towards the coal industry. As a result the Govern¬
ment accepted the board’s Plan for Coal as a general strategy for the follow-