Coal Industry Act 1977
| Year | 1977 |
Coal Industry Act 1977
1977 CHAPTER 39
An Act to increase the limit on the borrowing powers of the National Coal Board, to provide for grants by the Secretary of State to the Board and other persons, to extend the Board's powers and the power to provide pensions and other benefits under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946.
[29th July 1977]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Finance
1 Borrowing powers of National Coal Board.
(1) For section 1(3) and (4) of the Act of 1965 (subsection (3) of which limits the sums borrowed by the Board and their wholly owned subsidiaries to 1,100 million or such greater sum not exceeding 1,400 million as the Secretary of State may by order specify) substitute the following subsections—
(3) Without prejudice to subsection (4) of this section, the aggregate amount outstanding in respect of the principal of—
(a ) sums borrowed by the Board otherwise than from any of their wholly owned subsidiaries (including any sum which under section 1(4) of the Coal Industry Act 1973 is deemed to have been so borrowed), and
(b ) sums borrowed by any wholly owned subsidiary of the Board otherwise than from the Board or from another such subsidiary,
shall not exceed the limit of 1,800 million, but the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury, on not more than two occasions, by order made by statutory instrument increase or further increase that limit by 400 million (so that the limit becomes 2,200 million or on the second occasion 2,600 million).
(4) The aggregate of the amounts outstanding in respect of sums borrowed temporarily by the Board under subsection (1) and subsection (2A) of this section—
(a ) shall not at any time exceed such limit as the Secretary of State may from time to time direct, and
(b ) at the end of any financial year of the Board shall not be such as to permit any accumulated deficit on the Board's revenue account to exceed 50 million or such lesser or greater sum, but not exceeding 100 million, as the Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury may specify by order made by statutory instrument.’
(2) In Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act the provisions of the said section 1 of the Act of 1965, and of section 2 of the Act of 1973 (which also relates to the borrowing powers of the Board and its subsidiaries), are set out as amended by the enactments specified in Part II of that Schedule.
2 Grants for promoting sale of coal to Electricity Boards.
(1) For the purpose of promoting the sale of coal to the Central Electricity Generating Board, the South of Scotland Electricity Board or the Northern Ireland Electricity Service the Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury may, out of money provided by Parliament, make grants to the Board, or to any other person to whom this section applies.
(2) This section applies to any person who carries on in Great Britain a business which consists wholly or mainly of the production of coal.
(3) Grants under this section may be made subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury may determine.
(4) Grants may be made under this section for or by reference to any financial year of the Board during the relevant period defined in section 5 of this Act, subject to the limit in that section.
3 Grants in connection with stocks of coal or coke.
(1) The Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury may, out of money provided by Parliament, make grants in accordance with this section to the Board, or to any other person to whom this section applies, towards any cost incurred by that person in building up and maintaining stocks of coal or coke.
(2) This section applies to any person who carries on in Great Britain a business which consists wholly or mainly of the production of coal or coke.
(3) The costs in respect of which grants may be made to the Board under this section shall include those incurred by the Board in enabling stocks of coal or coke to be built up and maintained by the following of the Board's customers, namely, the Central Electricity Generating Board, the South of Scotland Electricity Board and the British Steel Corporation.
(4) For the purposes of this section no account shall be taken of any stocks of coal or coke for the time being owned by the person eligible for grant except in so far as they exceed such quantity as the Secretary of State may determine.
(5) In applying subsection (4) above, so much of the stocks held at any time by the customers mentioned in subsection (3) above as has been supplied by the Board but not paid for is to be treated as, or as having been, owned at that time by the Board.
(6) For the purposes of this section any wholly owned subsidiary of the Board shall be regarded as if its undertaking formed part of the Board's undertaking, and any costs incurred by it in building up and maintaining stocks of coal or coke were costs incurred by the Board.
(7) Grants under this section may be made subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury may determine.
(8) Grants may be made under this section towards costs incurred in the relevant period defined in section 5 of this Act, subject to the limit in that section.
4 Grants in respects of coking coal.
4. In section 8 of the Act of 1973 for subsections (4) and (5) substitute the following subsection—
(4) The power to make grants under this section shall be exercisable as respects coking coal supplied for use in the relevant period defined in section 5 of the Coal Industry Act 1977, subject to the limit in that section.’
5 Limit on grants under sections 2, 3 and 4.
(1) In sections 2 and 3 of this Act and section 8 of the Act of 1973 ‘the relevant period’ means the financial years of the Board ending in March 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982.
(2) The aggregate of the grants made under sections 2 and 3 of this Act and section 8 of the Act of 1973 shall not exceed the limit specified in subsection (3) below.
(3) The said limit is 100 million, but the Secretary of State may, on one or more occasions, by order made with the approval of the Treasury increase or further increase that limit, but not so as to raise the limit to a sum exceeding 175 million.
An order under this subsection shall be contained in a statutory instrument, and an order shall not be made under this subsection unless a draft of the order has been approved by resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.
(4) No account shall be taken under this section of any grant under section 8 of the Act of 1973 as respects coking coal supplied for use in a financial year of the Board ending in March 1976, or in March of any earlier year.
6 Grants in connection with pit closures.
(1) The Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury may, out of money provided by Parliament, make to the Board such grants as in the opinion of the Secretary of State will further assist in the re-deployment of the manpower resources of the Board and the elimination of uneconomic colliery capacity.
(2) The grants shall be towards relevant expenditure of the Board as defined in Schedule 2 to this Act, and shall be towards expenditure of the Board for the period specified in subsection (3) below.
(3) The said period is—
(a ) the Board's financial years ending in March 1979, 1980 and 1981, or
(b ) if the Secretary of State by order contained in a statutory instrument so directs, those ending in March 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982.
An order shall not be made under this subsection unless a draft of the order has been laid before the Commons House of Parliament and approved by resolution of that House.
(4) Grants under this section in respect of any financial year of the Board shall not in the aggregate exceed one-half of the relevant expenditure of the Board (as defined in Schedule 2 to this Act) for that year.
(5) The aggregate amount of the grants made by the Secretary of State under this section shall not exceed—
(a ) if an order is made under subsection (3) above, 80 million,
(b ) if no such order is made, 60 million.
7 Payments to redundant workers.
(1) For the purpose of providing assistance to persons made redundant by the closure of coal mines, the reduction in the number of persons employed thereat or the consequent reduction in ancillary services and facilities the Secretary of State may make a scheme providing for the making of payments to or in respect of persons of any prescribed class who at any time between 17th July 1967 and the final date as defined in subsection (3) below—
(a ) are employed at a coal mine or at any place of a prescribed class used for providing services or facilities ancillary to the working of one or more coal mines, and
(b ) become redundant within the meaning of the scheme in such circumstances as may be prescribed.
(2) The payments to be made under a scheme under this section shall be either—
(a ) payments by the Secretary of State to persons to whom...
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