HC Deb 03 March 1937 vol 321 cc367-8
72. Mr. H. G. Williams

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the difficulties experienced by traders selling perishable articles, which need a low temperature for their preservation, owing to the various decisions of local authorities in different parts of the country in the legal obligations imposed on shopkeepers to maintain a suitable and sufficient temperature in their shops; and what steps he proposes to take to ensure an equitable administration of the law throughout the country?

The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd)

My right hon. Friend has received representations from certain trade organisations in regard to the operation, in the case of shops in which perishable articles are sold, of the provision in Section 10 of the Shops Act, 1934, which requires the maintenance of a reasonable temperature in every part of a shop in which persons are employed. The Section lays it down that "suitable and sufficient means" to this end shall be provided, but the expression "suitable and sufficient" is defined to mean suitable and sufficient having regard to the circumstances and conditions affecting the shop. Subject, in the case of dispute, to the verdict of the Courts, the question is thus essentially one for the discretion of the local authority in each individual case; and, after full consideration of all the circumstances, my right hon. Friend has made it clear to the associations who have communicated with him that the matter is not one in which the Department is in a position to issue any further guidance to local authorities, beyond the advice given in an explanatory circular issued in December, 1934, of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy.

Mr. Williams

Can my hon. Friend explain why what the magistrates consider to be a suitable and sufficient temperature to preserve a haddock fresh in Birmingham should be different from what it is in London?

Mr. Rhys Davies

Will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that the comfort of the shop assistant is very much more important than the care of the perishable goods in the shop?

Mr. Macquisten

Will the hon. Gentleman inform the shopkeepers that if they would provide their assistants with proper cardigans or other warm wear they would not get cold?