National Coal Board (Finance) Act 1976
| Year | 1976 |
National Coal Board(Finance) Act 1976
1976 CHAPTER 1
An Act to increase the limit on the borrowing powers of the National Coal Board; to provide for reimbursing to the Board out of public money certain expenditure of theirs in respect of the mineworkers' pension scheme; and to extend the purposes for which grants may be made, under section 7 of the Coal Industry Act 1973, towards the cost of stock-piling coal and coke.
[4th March 1976]
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:—
1 Borrowing powers of National Coal Board.
(1) In section 1(3) of the Coal Industry Act 1965 (which, as substituted by section 2 of the 1973 Act, limits the aggregate of sums borrowed by the Board and its wholly-owned subsidiaries to a sum not exceeding 550 million or such greater sum not exceeding 700 million as the Secretary of State may by order specify), for ‘550 million’ and ‘700 million’ there shall be substituted respectively ‘1,100 million’ and ‘1,400 million’.
(2) The Coal Industry (Borrowing Powers) Order 1974 (which increased the borrowing limit to 700 million) is hereby revoked.
2 Payments towards mineworkers' pension scheme deficiency.
(1) If the Board, in any of their financial years 1975-76 to 1994-95 (both inclusive), have incurred expenditure towards reducing or eliminating deficiencies of the mineworkers' pension scheme, then subject to the provisions of this section the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, reimburse to the Board (in whole or in part) so much of that expenditure as appears to him to relate to current and contingent liabilities of the scheme to and in respect of persons whose service in the coal industry was terminated (by death, retirement or otherwise) before 6th April 1975.
(2) In determining the amounts to be reimbursed to the Board under this section, the Secretary of State shall disregard any extent to which the scales and rates of pensions and other benefits, paid or to be paid in discharge of those liabilities, have been uprated since that date otherwise than for the purpose only of maintaining their real value from time to time.
(3) Any payments by the Secretary of State under this section shall be made from money provided by Parliament: and the maximum aggregate of such payments shall not exceed—
(a ) in respect of the Board's financial year 1975-76, 18 million less the total amount of any payments made by him to the Board in respect of that year under section 5 of the 1973 Act (contributions towards increased pensions); and
(b ) in respect of any subsequent financial year up to and including 1994-1995, 18 million.
(4) The...
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