§ Mr. MaclennanI beg to move Amendment No. 45, in page 14, line 37, after 'efficiency', insert:
'reductions in quality without reductions in prices or charges'.The purpose of the amendment is to go some way towards meeting an undertaking given to my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Garston (Mr. Loyden) in Committee following representations that he and a number of my hon. Friends had made about the desirability of the Price Commission bearing in mind and giving particular regard to reductions in quality as a means of concealing a price increase. The amendment provides that in giving a direction to the Commission under the clause which is in respect of sectoral examinations of industry, the Secretary of State may frame the question so as to draw the Commission's attention in particular to reductions in quality without reductions in prices or charges.I recognise that this does not go as far as my hon. Friend would have wished in respect of investigations. However, I hope that he will accept that it emphasises the importance that we attach to the point that he was making and that he will support the amendment, which I hope the House will find acceptable.
§ 7.45 p.m.
§ Mr. LoydenI welcome the advances that the Secretary of State has made in regard to the amendment. In Committee we raised the question of hidden price increases. It was recognised by the Secretary of State and, I think, by the Opposition, that this question should be a matter for the prerogative of the Office of Fair Trading or the Price Commission. That was argued in Committee.
It would certainly be churlish of me not to recognise that the Government have gone some way along the line to meeting the points raised in Committee concerning hidden price increases and their effect on prices in general. A number of submissions were made in Committee that indicated to the Government the concern of Labour Members not only about prices as we can identify them but also about hidden price increases. Examples are given in Committee, to which the Secretary of State has responded.
I am somewhat disappointed about one aspect of hidden price increases about which I still feel concerned, although the Minister has gone reasonably well along the road in meeting the points made in Committee. That is the question of volume, which is not necessarily expressed in the amendment. It is obvious that apart from the question of quality, which will be part of the Bill when the amendment is carried, there is also a question that is becoming of major concern to housewives throughout the country. That is the hidden price increases that occur through the reduction of the content weight in packages and tins of various commodities. While they retain their price levels—although in some cases these prices have been increased—the volume of the product being sold is less.
By and large, we accept that the question of inferior quality is probably more important, so I hope that quality will be something to which the Commission can respond as well as dealing with the matter of volume and other things.
We are concerned with this matter and other matters connected with consumer interests in the Bill which have been expressed only from the Labour Benches, and we feel that the Secretary of State has gone a long way towards meeting us on four or five other items. It is for that reason that I am prepared to accept the amendment and to tell my right hon. 1567 Friend the Secretary of State that I do so gracefully.
§ Amendment agreed to.