HC Deb 30 January 1978 vol 943 cc6-7
4. Mr. Tim Smith

asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what steps he is taking to simplify and moderate the provision of information requirements under the Price Commission Act 1977, in the case of price pre-notification and quarterly reporting on profit margins.

Mr. Hattersley

I am keeping the information requirements under review, but it is much too early to say whether modifications may be required.

Mr. Smith

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, although there is supposed to be a degree of simplification under the new arrangements, many industrialists are finding the new forms a good deal more complicated than their predecessors?

Mr. Hattersley

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman because I think I anticipated his question in a previous comment. I can only repeat what I said before. The information requirement as it stands is largely the result of work jointly done by the Price Commission and the CBI. They are now talking about modifications and if they are mutually agreeable I shall not stand in their way. Some of the wilder claims about information requirements are not supported or subscribed to by industry as a whole.

Mr. Adley

In order to avoid any wild claims, can the right hon. Gentleman confirm or deny—and if he can do neither will he write to me—that each individual inquisition by the Commission costs about £60,000?

Mr. Hattersley

Individual questions on individual costs must, under the statute, be a matter for the Commission. While the hon. Gentleman is talking about wild claims, he might like to consider wild language and the use of words such as "inquisition" which make the people who use them appear ridiculous.

Mr. Neubert

Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied with the reported questions of the Price Commission about the militancy of company trade unions? What business is it of the Commission whether trade unions are militant or not?

Mr. Hattersley

There has been a good deal of comment about that question and claims that it appears in a questionnaire. I have talked to the Chairman of the Price Commission about that. No such question ever appeared in a questionnaire—

Mrs. Sally Oppenheim

Yes, it did. I saw it.

Mr. Hattersley

A firm of independent, private and highly reputable consultants working on behalf of the Commission included such a question in some individual letters. The chairman of the Commission has told the consultants that he does not regard that as a sensible question, and I agree with him.