Coal Industry Act 1977

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 denned in section 5 of this Act, subject to the limit in that section.