HC Deb 04 June 1947 vol 438 cc195-7
58 and 59. Mr. Spence

asked the Minister of Food (1) if he will give the average daily supplies per capita of the following foodstuffs during the 12 months to June, 1947; tomatoes and fruits of all sorts, poultry, game and rabbits, leafy, green, yellow and other vegetables;

(2) if he will give figures, based on retail weight, showing the total value of supplies per capita per annum of fats, including butter, in terms of fat content for the years 1934–38, 1945, 1946 and June, 1946 to June, 1947, showing the value in equivalent fat content for the same years of the following four food-groups: butter, margarine, lard and compound lard, other edible oils and fats.

Mr. Strachey

As I told the hon. Member on 14th May, we shall shortly be publishing figures of the consumption of various foodstuffs in the United Kingdom in some detail. These will give him the information he requires, and I should be grateful if he would wait for their publication, as piecemeal reproduction of the rather extensive statistical tables would lay a considerable strain on the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Spence

Can the Minister tell us the date when this information will be available, and, further, in answer to Question No. 59, can he say whether the actual loss is equivalent in value at the present time, as compared with prewar, to over 25 per cent.?

Mr. Strachey

As to the first part of the question, the figures are ready now, and it is a question how long the Stationery Office will take to deal with them, and that may not be quite as short a time as we would wish, as there is some congestion; but we shall do our very best to get them as soon as possible. I do not think that I had better attempt to answer from memory the second part of, the question.

Mrs. Jean Mann

Is my right hon. Friend certain that it is advisable, or that any useful purpose is served, by publishing such figures? Is he not aware that the figures in his Dundee speech, in which he gave the amount of fats and butter as being only half that of prewar have been misrepresented by hon. Members opposite, by the Press and by the Housewives' League?

Mr. Strachey

I am well aware that, as the hon. Lady says, any figures may be distorted, and some have been distorted, but I think our function, as a Government Department, is to give the fullest and most exact figures we can.

Mr. Spence

Is the Minister aware that these Questions were put down with the idea of getting at the facts, and that there is nothing underlying them other than that?