WORKING OF THE MONOPOLIES COMMISSION (Hansard, 21 June 1960)

§ LORD ABERDARE
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ THE EARL OF DUNDEE
My Lords, may I begin by saying that I desire on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to express appreciation for the co-operation which the Monopolies Commission receives from those it invites to give evidence? Her Majesty's Government have noted the criticism to which the noble Lord refers. They recognise that an inquiry by the Monopolies Commission must place a considerable burden on those directly involved and my right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade takes full account of this before deciding to make references to the Commission.
With regard to the publication of information, my noble friend will be 403 aware that, if it appears to the Board of Trade to be contrary to the public interest that the report or some part thereof should be made public, the Board of Trade shall lay before Parliament only so much, if any, of the report as in their opinion can be made public without injury to the public interest. Care is therefore taken before any report of the Monopolies Commission is published to scrutinise it with this end in view. At this stage careful consideration is given to any representations made by the parties concerned about the excision of material which they believe is to be included in the report. This was done on the occasion to which the noble Lord refers, but my right honourable friend saw no reason for thinking that the publication of the report in the form in which he had received it would be contrary to the public interest. This is still his view. The noble Lord asks if we are satisfied with the working of the Monopolies Commission. I am glad to have this opportunity to express on behalf of Her Majesty's Government our appreciation of the work done by the members of the Monopolies Commission and by their staff in carrying out these arduous and difficult inquiries.

§ LORD ABERDARE
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for that most detailed reply. Would he not agree that in view of this criticism by the chairman of one of our most important companies, and of the fact that there has been other criticism—not of the principle of the Act but of various of its workings—it might now be opportune to inquire into the workings of the Act?

§ THE EARL OF DUNDEE
My Lords, I think it is inevitable that if an Act of this kind is to be enforced at all there must be, unfortunately, some burden on those who have to give evidence which may often be a little hard upon them. This particular inquiry about which my noble friend has asked was not about Imperial Chemical Industries alone, of course, but about the chemical fertiliser industry as a whole; and it resulted in some criticisms by the Commission of another firm who have undertaken to adjust their policy and prices in the manner recommended by the Commission.

§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH
My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that we welcome the detailed answer he has given to this Question; that we watch these matters with very great interest and that perhaps the only doubt we have is that we are not quite sure what he meant when he said that the Board of Trade always take into account the difficulties of the firm to be inquired into. He was good enough to refer to the ultimate taking into account of the public interest. I should have thought that even at the very beginning the public interest comes first, and not the amount of trouble accorded to the monopoly.

§ THE EARL OF DUNDEE
My Lords, I entirely agree that the public interest must come first. But my right honourable friend receives quite a number of suggestions as to possible inquiries into various practices; and I think he must take into account, among other things, the great inconvenience and labour which is inevitably imposed upon firms. They may have to go on giving evidence to the Monopolies Commission over a period of three or four years before it has enough evidence to arrive at some conclusion.

§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH
My Lords, I am much obliged. Would the noble Earl also, in the particular instance behind this Question, convey to the Monopolies Commission the appreciation of the agricultural industry at the actual results they have achieved as a result of the inquiry?—because certainly I do not think any complaint can be made on that basis in the public interest.

§ THE EARL OF DUNDEE
My Lords, I am grateful for that tribute to the Commission.

§ LORD STONHAM
My Lords, would the noble Earl also bear in mind that these firms who object to the trouble they are caused can easily avoid that trouble by themselves voluntarily giving up the monopoly condition which gave rise to the inquiry?

§ THE EARL OF DUNDEE
My Lords, in the case to which my noble friend refers, the Monopolies Commission stated that I.C.I., who were put to so much trouble in this matter, had acted entirely 405 in the public interest; and I think one ought to recognise that they have a little ground, for complaining about being put to so much trouble and expense when, as it turned out, there was no ground for accusing them of having abused their position in any way.