§ 3.31 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF POWER (LORD MILLS)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government have now decided that the statutory control of house coal supplies and prices, which has been in existence ever since the beginning of the war, should be brought to an end at an early date. The restoration of free competition and freedom for the householder to buy from any merchant should encourage producers and distributors to offer the public the qualities of coal they need at the most competitive prices. With the ending of control, administrative expenditure of nearly £1 million per annum will be brought to an end.
636 In reviewing the question of decontrol, Her Majesty's Government have been materially helped by the Report of the Robson Committee on Coal Distribution Costs which has been published to-day, and is now available in the Printed Paper Office. I should like to take the opportunity of thanking Sir Thomas Robson and his colleagues for a Report which provides detailed and authoritative information about the organisation and economics of coal distribution. The Committee have made a number of recommendations which Her Majesty's Government will consider in consultation with those concerned.
I propose to have immediate consultations with the National Coal Board, the merchants, the Domestic Coal Consumers' Council, and the local authorities to ensure that the transfer from control to free competition is effected smoothly. Her Majesty's Government have it in mind to end the control about the middle of July. Control of the prices of coke and manufactured fuels would end at the same time.
§ 3.32 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, we are most grateful to the noble Lord, the Minister, for making this announcement at the same time as it is being made elsewhere. It is an important announcement, for the ending of a control after so many years must be of importance. What we should like to be assured of, first of all, is, as we hope. not merely that this does not mean that there will be no increase in the price to the consumer in bulk but also that it does not mean a set of differentiated increases and reductions on various classes and types of coal.
No doubt it is a good thing that the Minister, as he has announced, will have immediate consultations with all the interests concerned. To anyone who, like myself, has had some experience of the central administration of coal distribution, other trade questions arise immediately in one's mind. The other which we are anxious to know, in view of the decision of the Minister, is how this is going to affect trade in relation to the differentiated prices now operating between summer orders and orders at other times in the year. I am already a little uneasy over the fact that the latest date for the placing of summer orders is June 14. I should have thought it would be 637 much more desirable, in view of the state of coal stocks and the general desire for clearing some of them, for the date for summer price orders to be extended beyond June 14. Many people, owing to their cash position, do not get the chance of placing orders within that short period of time, and I should have thought that the summer prices might well have been continued to a later date. If, however, the Minister will be good enough to inform Parliament as soon as he has had consultations with the trade, I am sure we shall all join with him in happiness that there is less restriction and more freedom.
§ 3.35 p.m.
§ LORD MILLSMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount, Lord Alexander of Hillsborough, for his encouraging statement. I can appreciate his anxiety that the removal of control should not result in increased prices. That is one of the objects of the removal of control—to let competition exercise its influence. Besides that, I intend in the series of discussions which I propose to have, to see that clue emphasis is placed on that aspect of the matter. In regard to the question of summer prices, I can assure the noble Viscount that that matter has been carefully and thoroughly studied by the National Coal Board. Their anxiety is to sell coal and to keep coal moving evenly throughout the year, because it is produced fairly evenly throughout the year and it is desirable that it should move easily. The particular dates chosen for certain variations in price are those selected by the National Coal Board after most careful consideration. I hope the noble Viscount will be satisfied with that explanation.
§ LORD MACDONALD OF GWAENYSGORMy Lords, there is one question I should like to put to the noble Lord, the Minister, regarding the variation in price. I take it that there will he no variation in the early stages without consultation with the Ministry.
§ LORD MILLSMy Lords, I may explain to the noble Lord that the general price fixing—that is, the fixing of pithead prices and the fixing, therefore, of the zone prices (the price at which the National Coal Board deliver to the merchants)—is arranged after full consultation with the Minister. The only part which is in question is the difference be- 638 tween the zone delivered prices to the merchant and the price at which the consumer is supplied. I intend to watch that very carefully.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, might I, with the permission of the House, put just one more question with regard to what the Minister has said about the aim of the removal of control being rather the reverse of raising prices—in fact, to reduce them? I hope that when the noble Lord comes to discussions with the trade he will not forget the experience in some agricultural commodities, where Her Majesty's Government are mulcted in charges for subsidies to the farmers and where the removal of control at the market end has left freedom of buying to the retailer but rising prices, in face of a lower income, to the farmer. I believe that that is the kind of thing one should try to avoid, at any rate, in the case of coal.
§ LORD MILLSMy Lords. I can assure the noble Viscount that I will keep that matter and every other matter which is germane to this subject very closely in mind.