LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, my noble friend Lord Addison has asked me to apologise to my noble friend Lord Woolton for being absent. He is with the Minister of War on a very important matter, and he has asked me to put in his stead a question on a subject in which he is so much interested. I therefore beg leave of your Lordships to put this private notice question on behalf of my noble friend: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any statement to make on their milk price policy.
§ THE MINISTER OF FOOD (LORD WOOLTON)My Lords, I am very much obliged to the noble Lord for giving me this opportunity of placing before your Lordships a proposal which has now arrived almost at a state of completion and which, if I may be allowed to say so, has not only my official but my very sincere personal support. At this time the future of those who will have to carry on the life and the traditions of this great nation when it has conquered the present threat seems to us to be of so much importance that we consider it necessary to take special steps to safeguard the health of young children and of expectant and nursing mothers. We therefore prepared a comprehensive national scheme under which expectant and nursing mothers and children under five will in the near future be enabled to obtain adequate quantities of milk at prices within the means of the household. It is unnecessary for me to emphasize to your Lordships the importance of milk as an item of food for these particular members of the community. The plan which we have prepared, and which we hope to bring into operation within the next month, will have a wider scope and, I hope, a more definite effect than anything of the kind that we have hitherto attempted to operate.
Hitherto the responsibility for the administration costs of schemes for providing milk at reduced charges has been 527 placed upon local authorities. The Government felt that as this matter is of such vital and immediate national importance the scheme should become one the cost of which would be borne entirely by the Exchequer. Under the plan now proposed milk will be available daily at the much reduced price of twopence per pint for each expectant or nursing mother and for each child under school age, and this applies to every eligible household which desires to take advantage of the scheme. The scheme also makes provision for the supply of free milk to those households coming under the scheme who are not able to pay for it. Whilst it will be necessary in such cases to establish need, the requirements under the scheme will be very simple and there will normally be no detailed investigation as to the means of the applicants.
At the request of the other Ministers concerned—namely, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Health—my Department has undertaken the responsibility for the administration of the plan. It is proposed therefore that the Ministry of Food shall appoint a local milk officer in each area who will be under the direct control of the Ministry. The details of the scheme are now being worked out with the other authorities concerned. I have invited representatives of the local government associations, of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, and of all the milk marketing boards, to meet me this week so that I may discuss with them the operation of the plan. I feel sure that I can rely upon the wholehearted co-operation and support of all these authorities. I should like to take this opportunity of recording my thanks to the milk distributing trade, to whom I first put this problem as one of great national interest and whom I invited to operate it at no profit to themselves, and they agreed to do so as a piece of national work during war-time.
Noble Lords will be aware that the costs of milk production have risen since the outbreak of war. While some part of the increased cost has been met by increasing the prices payable for milk used in manufacture, the increased price guaranteed by the Government to producers during the summer months could not be met completely out of the revenue produced by the sale of milk. To enable the whole question of milk policy to be 528 fully investigated and to prevent a rise in the retail price, the Government earlier on granted a subsidy which, in cash, has amounted to £3,500,000 but it was at the rate of £8,500,000 per annum. All of us who drink milk benefited by that subsidy but according to the plan that I now have in the future milk will find its economic price. The public will pay that price and such subsidies as His Majesty's Government give will be directed to those people who are not in a position to pay the economic price. I hope that policy will meet with your Lordships' approval. The consequent increase of fourpence per gallon in the retail price of milk will come into effect on July 1. It is required to cover the increased payment already guaranteed to producers until the end of September.
I have made this statement to your Lordships to-day because I thought it a matter of interest, as it was certainly a matter of courtesy, to your Lordships that I should do so, but I hope to be in a position to make a fuller statement on the Government's milk policy in the course of the debate next week on the Motion that stands in the name of the noble Viscount, Lord Samuel. In the meantime, however, it is necessary to make interim announcements of a detailed character in order to enable the administrative machine to be brought into operation without delay. I wanted to communicate this rough outline of the plan to your Lordships at this early stage.
§ 4.10 p.m.
§ LORD ADDISONMy Lords, I am sure we are all exceedingly interested and obliged to the noble Lord for the statement that he has made. From the point of view of the food of the people it is a matter of first-class importance. Listening to the statement, it occurred to me, without prejudice to the fuller statement which the noble Lord is going to give us, that the insistence in the concluding sentences of the statement that milk should find its economic price, raises a very important issue as to the costs of distribution which enter into the determination of that price. On that, I for one hold very strong opinions. There is also, if I understand it aright, an increase to twopence a pint at which milk is now provided in schools. I think that represents an increase in price of one halfpenny a pint, but I am speaking, of course, without notice. If so, that 529 is another very important matter. However, I am quite sure that your Lordships will appreciate the outlook of the noble Lord in working out a scheme of this magnitude, and will look forward with great interest to the fuller details that he has promised to supply. I hope that as soon as we obtain possession of those details, we shall have an opportunity of discussing them in this House. Meanwhile, I would like to offer congratulations to the noble Lord for the gallant effort he is making, although I am sure he will not resent our looking this gift horse in the mouth rather carefully. Meanwhile we shall look forward to the fuller statement.
§ 4.12 p.m.
THE MARQUESS OF CREWEMy Lords, I would like to add only one word, having been for many years an inhabitant of a dairy country and having been for a long time concerned with milk production. I certainly welcome the effort of His Majesty's Government to deal with some of the difficulties which have so long surrounded this industry. There was a time, which lasted for many years, when dairy farmers seemed to be on the crest of the wave. Other agriculturists were down in the mouth while the dairy industry appeared to prosper without great difficulty. Now that happy state of things has come very largely to an end. I particularly welcome the efforts which His Majesty's Government are making to provide either free milk or milk at a very low price for nursing mothers and young children, for whom it is absolutely indispensable. I have always felt that the question of milk distribution was even more complicated and difficult than milk production. For a number of reasons there are small distributors and others whose interests have had to be considered, because they serve a section of the public who could not be altogether looked after by the great distributing firms. I trust that that aspect of the question will be most carefully considered and dealt with in the scheme which His Majesty's Government have in hand. I say no more except to offer in general terms a welcome to the efforts which His Majesty's Government are making.
§ 4.16 p.m.
§ LORD WOOLTONMy Lords, perhaps I may be allowed at this stage to say that I have told the distributors, whose costs I have been into in great detail, that we 530 cannot look at the costs of distribution of milk without concern. I have invited the distributors to appoint a committee of six, and I have appointed a committee of business men, and I have asked this committee to go into the whole question of distribution costs. I have told the distributors that the increase of a penny that has been given to them is only for a period of three months, and I shall have to look into the matter again when I receive the report of the committee. Noble Lords may be assured, therefore, that I am looking into the problem of the distribution of milk.