§ Q1. Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Prime Minister whether he is satisfied with co-ordination between the Department of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in monitoring prices; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)Yes, Sir. Both the Department 1080 of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have established effective machinery for dealing with inquiries and complaints from the public.
§ Mr. HuckfieldBut is the Prime Minister aware that if he rings up the Ministry of Agriculture it will tell him that it can do nothing about food prices, and if he rings up the Department of Trade and Industry, it will tell him that all the price increases in its sector have already happened? Will he now admit that this whole policy of newspaper advertisements and telephone messages is just a gigantic public relations hoax to conceal a vicious wages freeze?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not accept either of the statements at the beginning of the hon. Gentleman's question, nor his conclusion.
§ Mr. MolloyIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that when he appointed the hon. Lady who is sitting next to him as Under-Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, it was heralded as the establishment of a watchdog over prices? If he had been here this afternoon he would have seen the lamentable performance of a hush-puppy. Would he not now agree that he should be fair to her and put real teeth into the Bill which he rushed through the House, so that she can do the job of controlling prices, and not adopt the despicable attitude of giving her an impossible task because the legislation does not allow anyone to control any form of prices?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not accept what the hon. Gentleman says. The Bill has got teeth in it. Otherwise, I do not see why the Opposition opposed it.
§ Mr. Harold WilsonHow many telephone calls have there been? Can the Prime Minister now answer the question which he did not answer on "Panorama" two weeks ago, or when it was put in the House by his hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mrs. Sally Oppenheim)? Will he allow them to telephone on a reversed charges basis?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir; I am hot in favour of allowing calls on a reversed charges basis. I do not think that it is justifiable at the public expense. As for the number of inquiries, taking the whole 1081 country—that is, London and the regions—the DTI has had just over 15,000—of which about 85 per cent. have been from businessmen—and the Ministry of Agriculture just over 4,000—40 per cent. of which were from businessmen.
§ Mr. RostWill the Prime Minister explain to the House why the party opposite, when in office, clobbered British agriculture? If they had not there would have been more British food produced, thus helping prices to stabilise.
§ The Prime MinisterThat is the past. What we have done since we have been in power is encourage British agriculture and get expansion.
§ Mr. Harold WilsonBut since the right hon. Gentleman is not providing adequate monitoring of this problem, since he refused the proposal in the debate on Second Reading of the Bill that local authorities should have the task, and since he has made many moving statements in public about how he is relying on the housewives, why should the housewives not have their telephone charges reversed—in view of his reversal of policy?
§ The Prime MinisterI believe that there is effective monitoring through the Departments and their regional offices, and that this is the most satisfactory way of doing it.