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David Taylor: I know that my hon. Friend will discuss these matters with the Minister for Energy tomorrow, but may I just tell him that the decline in coal mining production has been sudden and steep, and what we are seeking is bridging support for 12 months or so, to allow the MRS to diversify even further in the successful way that it has in the past?
Mr. Sutcliffe: I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I shall come to that matter shortly. I know that he, too, is going to meet my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy.
My hon. Friend mentioned the diversity that the MRS has been proactive in seeking. It has been shaping its destiny in a way that helps to minimise the need for
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industry funding. The company has valuable and, in certain respects, unique experience and expertise in first aid, fire fighting, the use of breathing apparatus and, most significantly, working in confined spaces. It has skilfully marketed this expertise, principally to the other emergency services, in the form of training programmes. At the same time, it has exploited its ability to provide an emergency response throughout coalfield areas to secure a contract to provide the Coal Authority with a surface incident service which involves experienced mines rescue staff being the first to arrive on the scene when hazards such as ground collapses arising from historic mining are reported. I know that, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire, the MRS is in discussion with the east midlands fire and rescue service with a view to entering into a memorandum of understanding that will provide for collaboration in the provision of life-saving intervention at collapsed structures and other similar incidents.
All of these activities are helping to support the core deep-mine rescue service that the company was originally established to provide, and are instrumental in ensuring, for the meantime at least, that there will be no increase in the industry levy. While I appreciate that the service might have to dip into its limited reserves to make good a modest budget shortfall this year, I have some confidence, given its excellent track record up to now, that its tireless pursuit of new and different business opportunities should see it fair for the future.
That is the spirit in which my hon. Friend has asked us to try to resolve the difficulty in the short term, and I know that my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy will look at ways to protect and develop the service in conjunction with the other emergency services along the lines that my hon. Friend has described.
David Taylor: As the Minister rightly says, I hope to discuss these matters with the Minister for Energy when he becomes available. Tomorrow, will he ask the Minister for Energy, who has a good track record in response to the coal mining industry, to strain every sinew and tap every fund that might be available to give breathing space to this important organisation, as it has tried so hard in its professional life to give breathing space to trapped miners? It is trapped in a position not of its choosing. It seeks an escape route, and the Government can offer that escape route, which is required for a brief period. I hope that he will put that case strongly and vigorously to the Minister for Energy when he next discusses the matter with him.
Mr. Sutcliffe: I will certainly do so, echoing how my right hon. and hon. Friends have put the case this evening. We value what the service does, and we will try to find ways to be of assistance. The Department is in a tight financial position anyway, but discussion about what the service is already trying to do to diversify will help. I am prepared to add my voice to my hon. Friend's to make sure that there is a successful outcome.
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