§ 16. Mrs. Haymanasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection whether she will take measures to stop the abuses in pricing policy on certain goods currently caused by "special offers "which in fact work to the disadvantage of the consumer.
Mr. Alan WilliamsThe Director General of Fair Trading has invited evidence on misleading price comparisons, including abuses of the kind my hon. Friend has in mind, with a view to a possible reference to the Consumer Protection Advisory Committee. I am sure that he will be glad to receive any representations she cares to send him.
§ Mrs. HaymanI am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply and I shall make representations to the Director General. Shoppers are extremely irritated when they find that a commodity price, apparently 2p less that it was the week before, is in fact lp more and that the item can be bought more cheaply at the 1106 shop next door. Is my hon. Friend aware that this ludicrous method of trying to induce shoppers to buy a certain brand leads to such anomalies as the packet of soap powder which I bought this week which was marked "Special low price"?
Mr. WilliamsMy hon. Friend is correct. Unlike the Liberal spokesman, I actually do some of the family shopping and I am fully aware of the annoyance produced by the practice described by my hon. Friend. Even this morning I spoke to the Director General about this matter, and he assures me that he hopes to bring forward recommendations early in the new year. There will then have been consultation on the recommendations. There is action in the now famous pipeline.
§ Mr. McCrindleOn the other side of the coin, has the Minister any comment to make on supermarkets which recently have been prepared to provide scarce commodities such as sugar only in return for a minimum amount of spending by their customers? Does the hon. Gentleman agree that such a practice is unfortunate for old-age pensioners and people on fixed incomes? Has he plans to make a recommendation to discourage that practice?
Mr. WilliamsThere is a Question on this subject on the Order Paper which it would be improper for me to anticipate.
§ Miss FookesIs the Director General of Fair Trading taking into account my bête noire, the manufacturers' recommended price, which I believe should be abolished?
Mr. WilliamsYes, indeed, he is taking that into account. If the hon. Lady has examples of gross bêtes noires which she would like to put before the Director General I shall be delighted to hear of them.
§ Later—
§ Mr. McCrindleOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. When I put a supplementary question on Question No. 16, I was told that the matter I had raised would be answered in reply to a later Question. May I know which Question between Question 17 and Question 28 refers to the matter I raised?
Mr. Alan WilliamsFurther to that point of order. As I made the point, I invite the hon. Gentleman to look at Question No. 18. I was not trying to dodge the hon. Gentleman's question. I would gladly have answered it, but it would have been discourteous to the hon. Gentleman who asked the other Question, had he been present.