HC Deb 06 May 1948 vol 450 cc1457-64
The President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Harold Wilson)

I have for some time had under review the arrangements by which consumer goods for which the Hoard of Trade are responsible are rationed to the public.

With regard to furniture, until now members of the priority classes who qualified for the full ration of 60 units, which is subject to a needs test, have been given a maximum of 30 units valid at once and 30 valid at a later date. Production has been well maintained and demand from the priority classes, who include those bombed out, has declined. It is, therefore, no longer necessary to defer the validity of any units. Accordingly, I am arranging that, as from tomorrow, all units to be issued will be immediately valid, and I am taking the formal steps necessary to make valid the existing maroon units. From tomorrow also I intend to alter the arrangement by which parents without sufficient furniture have been able to obtain enough units for a bed for a child who grows out of its cot; in future they will be able to obtain units for a small quantity of bedroom furniture in addition. The present priority classes will be extended to cover couples who married before the war and are now setting up house for the first time. As to the future, I intend to keep the balance between supply and demand under very close watch so that, if the supplies of utility furniture increase in relation to the demand from the priority classes, a proportion can be made available to all.

I now turn to clothing. Stocks today are a good deal higher than they were this time last year but, at that time, they were in many cases at a dangerously low level and some increase is necessary and has been deliberately planned. Low stocks give consumers little choice and we have moreover had to provide against the likelihood that new supplies will come into the shops in decreasing quantity as we work up to the planned rate of exports at the end of the year. The extra increase in stocks which has taken place in certain types of clothing is due to a variety of causes: in so far as it is due to larger production, it is wholly welcome; in so far as it is due to some time lag in reaching the full rate of export, it is temporary. Some of the increase is certainly due to a greater attention to price and quality by consumers, and this is a good tendency. In addition some clothes, which might otherwise have formed a valuable reserve for the winter, have been rendered unsaleable by changes in fashion. Whatever may be the cause, there undoubtedly is over-stocking in some goods at the present time and to meet this condition, which, as the House will appreciate, may well be temporary, two sets of measures are being taken.

The first is somewhat technical and affects retailers in particular. Discussions are being opened with the trade with a view to arriving at clearance rates which will allow sales of slow selling stocks at half coupon rates and low prices. While there have in the past been clearance rates to cover sales of damaged stock at nominal prices, it has not been necessary until now to provide for the regular sales which were normal before the war, because there have been few fashion changes until now. The new rates will be introduced in time for the summer sales and, in so far as the result is lower prices, I welcome it. I intend that the rates shall be as easy as we can safely make them without inducing the danger that goods would be deliberately manufactured for sale at half coupon rates. Distributors may also have a rather too small quantity of coupons in their hands as a result of the larger stocks they are holding. This may well hinder them in placing forward orders. Therefore, I intend to raise from Tuesday next, 11th May, the discount rate for coupons banked by distributors from 4 per cent. to 8 per cent.

The second set of measures is more general. I am today making an Order, which will come into force on Tuesday, reducing the number of coupons required to be surrendered for certain kinds of clothing, where this is justified on supply grounds and can be done without danger to the export drive. Wool cloth of certain specifications—that is the cheaper utility cloths which are not good export lines—and garments made from such cloth, whether for men or women, will be down-pointed by approximately one-third to the lower rates which, at present, apply to cotton and rayon; seamless rayon stockings will be down-pointed from one-and-a-half to one coupon per pair; gloves will be downpointed by one-half; proofed rainwear, other than gaberdine, is also being downpointed by approximately one-half.

All footwear will require in future only half the present number of coupons, with the exception of children's footwear, which will be freed from the ration altogether. I will circulate details of these changes in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

It will probably be necessary in due course to make further adjustments in pointing, both up and down, in the light of the supply position, but I am opposed to frequent changes which are confusing to the public and cause great dislocation to industry and trade.

I believe that these measures on clothing will prove helpful to the trade, and they will certainly be welcome to consumers, but I must warn the House against regarding them at this stage as anything but a temporary increase in the purchasing power of the ration. I shall, of course, continue to watch the trend of production closely. The recent increase in production in all the textile trades is encouraging, but unless it continues, and at an increased rate, I cannot rule out the possibility of having in September to reduce the coupon issue to balance the reduced pointings, since supplies of textiles for the home market must be expected to fall over the remainder of the year to Provide for the Planned rise in exports which we must have.

Mr. Oliver Lyttelton

May I ask the President of the Board of Trade two questions? In view of the fact that this situation, which he is now trying to remedy, has been known to the public and to the trade—in fact to everybody, except the Government—for some weeks, why is it only now that he takes these measures? Secondly, may I ask whether, in future, he will be quicker to take Lord Woolton's advice in these matters? Lastly, may I ask whether he will drastically revise the whole organisation of clothing coupons and the policy behind it, at once?

Mr. Wilson

These facts were not unknown to the Government, and were known to the Government just as soon as to the trade and Lord Woolton—probably sooner. But we had to proceed cautiously in this matter, because we could not afford a situation where we ran down stocks, and then ran short later in the year, because of the diversion to export. Secondly, it was felt—and I am not apologising for this—that some increase in stocks was a desirable thing in order that the public could have a bit more choice, and should not have forced upon them some materials at very high prices without the choice as to the quality which was required. As to the right hon. Gentleman's last question, it is one of the most typical general remarks about taking off controls and completely changing the whole system. We have no intention of changing the whole system. As I have said, we shall keep the situation under very close review, and shall not hesitate to see that coupon purchasing power is kept very closely in relation to the goods available in the shops.

Mr. Rankin

Could the President of the Board of Trade say if the accumulation of stocks is due in any measure to the diminished purchasing power amongst the working classes?

Mr. Wilson

Prices, in relation to the income available, have become more important in recent weeks, and there is plenty of evidence of that.

Sir I. Fraser

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider, with his colleagues, taking the country and the House into the confidence of the Government regarding coupons, by introducing some sort of budget which will show the relationship between supplies for the coming year and the coupon credit or currency to meet it.

Mr. Wilson

I shall certainly be prepared to make a fuller statement as soon as the position becomes a little clearer, but, as I have said, with the uncertainty about the build up of production, which is now increasing and the uncertainty about the diversion to exports, it would not be possible at this stage to make a very clear statement of the kind that the hon. Gentleman has in mind.

Mrs. Mann

Is my right hon. Friend aware that his statement regarding children's footwear will be received with very great joy in all households, even where there are no children, and would he say exactly how far the word "children" relates in the matter of ages? Is it only infants, or the whole range of school children?

Mr. Wilson

It is all the ranges which are at present described in the existing Orders as "children's shoes," and which go a pretty fair way up the age scale.

Colonel Gomme-Duncan

In relation to the question of children's shoes, harassed parents will certainly have some relief and I support the hon. Member for Coatbridge (Mrs. Mann) in asking that children who are above the children's size stage—who I believe are called "adolescent"—who grow out of their shoes much more quickly even than the smaller ones, may be considered, because at that age it is desperately difficult for parents to provide shoes for them.

Mr. Wilson

I will keep all these questions of clothing supplies very closely under review. Perhaps the hon. and gallant Member for Perth (Colonel Gomme-Duncan) will study the details which we shall issue in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Stanley

May I ask the President of the Board of Trade a question on one point regarding furniture? I understand he is to extend the priority class to those married before the war. Would he also consider certain rather hard cases that occur of widowers and widows who married since the war, who have previously had homes, but are now setting up new homes? They have, in the past, been refused these priority documents.

Mr. Wilson

I shall be glad to consider the right hon. Gentleman's suggestion, but, as I have said, in the course of the Summer, as we hope production may be increasing, I wish to try and bring more and more sections of the general public into the priority class.

Mr. Harrison

Is it the intention of the Minister in these new regulations to permit the production of more utility mattresses than are being manufactured now?

Mr. Wilson

I should want notice of that question.

Mr. Assheton

Can the right hon. Gentleman give any indication of when women's stockings will be freed from coupons?

Mr. Wilson

I have said that women's seamless stockings will be reduced in coupon rates. Obviously, I cannot give any indication when women's stockings can be freed from coupons.

Mr. Assheton

I am not sure whether those are the kind of stockings which women like. I am interested to find out when the kind of stockings which women like are likely to be freed, because such an enormous amount of time is wasted in mending almost unmendable stockings.

Mr. Wilson

The right hon. Gentleman ought to know that seamless stockings are not the most popular variety with women consumers of stockings. But certainly there is no prospect at the moment of reducing the coupon rate for fully-fashioned stockings, because they are in short supply and, in any case, they are a very good export line.

Mr. Joynson-Hicks

Arising out of the original statement in which the Minister said that discussions would take place between his Department and retailers' organisations over clearance stocks, can the right hon. Gentleman add anything with regard to the inclusion in those discussions of the question of the repayment of Purchase Tax which has been paid on those stocks? If not, will he consult the Chancellor of the Exchequer in order that it might be included in the discussions?

Mr. Wilson

No, Sir. I shall have quite enough to talk about in these discussions on the question of the coupon clearance rates. I am looking to this as the best way of getting rid of the present surplus stocks, particularly of women's outerwear, in addition to reducing the utility specification rate.

Mr. McGovern

I am not sure whether the right hon. Gentleman made any state- ment about children's clothing to indicate whether there is any change or whether it is possible to take children's clothing off the ration completely?

Mr. Wilson

I have taken one step in that direction this afternoon. For instance, in the case of utility woollen material, the rates for children's clothing will be reduced in the same way as those for adult's clothing. The same, of course, will also be true of children's rainwear—raincoats, weatherproofs and so on.

Mr. Jennings

Will the Minister take into consideration the position of the manufacturers who are forced to build up these stocks with a serious effect on the liquid situation of the particular manufacturer?

Mr. Wilson

We have the position of the manufacturer very closely in mind in all that we are doing. I have mentioned one or two points where we have had to take steps to ensure that there is no drying up of demand as between the distributor and the manufacturer.

Mr. Chetwynd

As most of these surplus stocks concern female clothes, is the Minister satisfied that everything possible is being done to increase the stocks available for men?

Mr. Wilson

The first step, taken some months ago to reduce the disparity in supplies between women's woollen goods and men's, was to divert supplies of woollen material for the production of men's clothing. What I have announced does not affect women only. For instance, men's clothes made from the cheap utility grades will have the same reduction in coupons as women's clothes.

Major Haughton

As the Minister has seen his way to ease the situation in regard to furniture and certain classes of bedding and clothing, can he see his way to ease the situation in regard to the coupon arrangement far sheets and pillow cases?

Mr. Wilson

There is nothing which I should be more anxious to do if the supply situation permitted, but I have to say that at present the supply of sheets available only represents about one sheet per year for every four persons throughout the country. Until we can increase production, I am afraid there is not much hope of improvement in that direction.

Mr. Janner

In thanking the Minister for the elaborate concessions that he has made, may I return to the question of children's clothing and knitted goods and ask whether he is aware that there is a very large stock of these goods available both for the wholesaler and the retailer, particularly in the Midlands; in view of that, would he reconsider his decision about coupon values in respect of those goods?

Mr. Wilson

I am advised that the supplies available, having regard to the supplies which are at present being diverted to export markets, are not excessive in relation to what we shall need later in the year.

Mr. Odey

Whilst appreciating the statement about footwear, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he will bear in mind the fact that the present high price of leather is an adequate restriction of itself, and in view of the fact that supplies of leather for the present, and for at least the next six months, are adequate, would he consider the abolition of the leather control which has outlived its usefulness?

Mr. Wilson

That is an entirely different matter about which the hon. Gentleman has a Question on the Order Paper, and he will find his answer later this afternoon. Because of the doubt about leather supplies after the period of six months to which he has referred, it would not be possible to ease up any further in the matter of coupon rates for footwear.

Mr. George Porter

Would the right hon. Gentleman consider, in consultation with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the possibility of taking mattresses out of the category of bedding and putting them either into the category of furniture or into a separate category, so that they would have better consideration from the point of view of Purchase Tax?