Transparency data

Coal Authority public task statement

Updated 28 April 2023

1. Background

This statement sets out the functions carried out by the Coal Authority that are within our public task under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015.

It is published primarily to provide clarity to re-users and potential re-users of our information.

This statement is regularly reviewed and is due to be considered again no later than 2024.

2. Public task

The Coal Authority owns the vast majority of unworked coal in Great Britain, as well as former coal mines.

We are a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and established by Parliament under the Coal Industry Act 1994, which sets out our relevant powers and responsibilities.

These include:

• licensing coal mining operations
• matters with respect to coal mining subsidence damage outside the areas of responsibility of coal mining licensees
• dealing with property and historical liability issues, for example environmental projects, mine water treatment schemes and surface hazards relating to past coal mining
• providing public access to information held by us on coal mining

Our public task comprises all the functions, duties and responsibilities set out in the following legislations and documents:

• the Coal Industry Act 1994 (the 1994 Act)
• the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991, as amended by the 1994 Act
• a Revised Coal Authority Explanatory Note, produced by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for Parliament in June 1994 to explain the intended provisions of the Coal Industry Bill
• the Water Act 2003
• the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005
• statement by Lord Strathclyde in 1994 on the government’s expectations of the Coal Authority relating to mine water remediation
• re-statement by John Battle MP in 1998 that the Coal Authority is the designated body with responsibility for dealing with mine water discharges from former coal mines
• the Energy Act 2011
• Category 2 responder status under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Amendment of List of Responders) Order 2023 in response to emergencies and incidents that happen on the coalfield

Our public task also includes any functions, duties and responsibilities with Welsh Government, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency and as directed by the Secretary of State. To date the Secretary of State has not made any such direction.

Details of our activities can be found on our website at gov.uk/coalauthority.

Personal data is excluded under the Re-use Regulations, as is third party owned information and information that is exempt or excepted under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) or the Environmental Information Regulations (2004)

Our public task information is available to licence for re-use subject to the condition and charges provided on request by contacting us at datasolutions@coal.gov.uk and set out in the CON29M reports section below. We will consider any requests to re-use information falling outside our public task.

We encourage the re-use of information and ensure that level playing field access is provided to our information assets for both internal and external users.

In this regard we acknowledge, understand and respect the importance of commercial confidentiality in all our dealings with the re-use community and are prepared to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with potential information re-users prior to any discussions in these conditions.

The NDA is not intended to create any lack of transparency on behalf of both parties nor to provide any unfair advantage to those parties entering into the NDA.

3. CON29M reports

The activity of supplying CON29M reports (not just the information, but the information formatted into the prescribed layout and content) is a part of our public task.

This follows the “Revised Coal Authority explanatory note provided by the DTI” on the Coal Industry Bill 1994 that the authority would continue to provide mining reports much in line with British Coal’s previous practice.

The licensing of our coal mining information and data to create equivalent products to the CON29M also falls within our public task and does not constitute re-use for the purposes of regulation 4 of the Re-Use Regulations.

We will, subject to licence approval criteria, licence our data and constituent parts of our CON29M report for the production of CON29M coal mining reports or successors or variants to CON29M (or equivalent reports in Scotland) or any similar product which is used to substitute for the user’s need of the CON29M.

This will effectively create a market for the production of mining reports.

We consider the bundling of a Coal Authority CON29M report into another product or series of products to be an appropriate re-use of the CON29M report.

Although the content of the report cannot be disaggregated, the bundling of a report will allow users to integrate the contents of a CON29M into existing or new products deviating from the Law Society’s prescribed form and layout.

We will, under licence and subject to licence approval criteria, supply our data for use in the creation of products and services relating to the purchase, sale, mortgage (or further advance), or development of property and land that would replicate or replace the requirement for a CON29M report or impact the property market.

The approval criteria and licence terms can be obtained by contacting us at datasolutions@coal.gov.uk.

4. Contact

For queries about this statement contact us at customerservice@coal.gov.uk.

If you have a complaint about us under the Re-use Regulations, please use our complaints procedure.