Biscuits (Hansard, 3 March 1988)

§ 4. Mr. Gregory
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the volume and value of United Kingdom production of chocolate-coated and non-chocolate-coated biscuits for the most recent period for which statistics are available; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
The Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance publishes estimates on home sales and exports based on members' returns. The approximate figures for 1986 are 132,000 tonnes out of 449,000 tonnes, which is £227 million out of £565 million.

§ Mr. Gregory
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for those figures. Does he agree that they are a little disappointing and are even down on the number of chocolate-coated biscuits sold in this country in 1973–74, the last year when such products were rated at the same level as other foods? Is it not time that we considered re-rating those biscuits? Even at this late hour, will my hon. Friend have discussions with our right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to tell him about the increases that took place in 1973 and how much more employment there would be in this important industry if there were such a re-rating?

§ Mr. Thompson
My persistent hon. Friend again does an extremely good job for his constituency of York. He has drawn to my attention—

§ Mr. Cryer
He has a very small majority.

§ Mr. Thompson
So did the hon. Gentleman at one time. I have seen a copy of the submission from the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance sent to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As my hon. Friend has underlined, this is a matter for the Chancellor, but I am sure that his spies will be here today to draw his attention to this question.

§ Mr. Shersby
Has my hon. Friend made any representations to our right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer about the distortion in trade caused by the imposition of VAT on chocolate biscuits? This is a very serious matter for the biscuit eaters of this country. As my hon. Friend is the Minister with responsibility for food consumption, I hope that he will have something to say about the matter.

§ Mr. Thompson
I am aware of the MCAs on chocolate and chocolate biscuits. I recently visited an exhibition of the biscuit and sweet industry in Cologne. Our exporters 1143 were in good heart and were jumping the MCA barrier very well. In many cases, they were improving their exports to Europe and the rest of the world. I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer is aware of the distortion.