§ 8. Mrs. Mannasked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to prevent the furniture shops being stocked with shoddy goods pending the announcement of standards by the Furniture Development Council.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftI would refer the hon. Member to what my hon. and learned Friend the Parliamentary Secretary said during the debate on the D Scheme for furniture on 21st January on the question of quality standards and the progress which had been made by the British Standards Institution, in consultation with the industry, in producing British standards for furniture.
§ Mrs. MannWhile I appreciate the statement that was made, it seems to me that there might be a very big time lag during which there might be a great deal of shoddy goods on the market. Would the right hon. Gentleman see that there is no time lag?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftIf the hon. Lady would study the speech made by my hon. and learned Friend on this occasion, she will find that that question was very fully dealt with. I do not accept the suggestion that furniture manufacturers are placing a lot of shoddy goods in the shops.
§ 17. Miss Burtonasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will introduce legislation making it compulsory for all furniture to be marked with the name and address of the manufacturers.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftNo, Sir.
§ Miss BurtonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the furniture trade unions are very much in favour of this, and could he not agree that the customer who buys furniture in the shop should have some redress if he is unfortunate enough to make a bad buy?
Mr. ThomeycroftI have given some consideration to these proposals, and I have come to the conclusion that their adoption would be quite contrary to the general policy of getting voluntary arrangements for the marking of goods on quality standards.