§ 3.34 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORT-FOLIO (LORD MILLS)My Lords, with the permission of the House I wish to repeat a statement which is being made in another place by my right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade on the relaxation of certain hire- 407 purchase controls. The statement is as follows:
"The Government have decided that it is now possible to make some relaxation in the regulations under which a minimum deposit of 20 per cent. of the purchase price has been required under hire-purchase transactions. The control was reintroduced on April 28, 1960. The maximum period for the payment of the balance due on most goods was extended from two to three years in January 19, 1961.
"I shall accordingly be laying before Parliament later to-day the text of an Order reducing from 20 per cent. to 10 per cent. the minimum initial deposit on all goods, except motor vehicles, which are at present subject to the requirement of a 20 per cent. deposit under the Orders controlling hire-purchase and credit sales. These reductions will come into effect tomorrow.
"The maximum period of three years for the payment of the balance of the purchase price will remain unchanged, as will the list of goods for which the minimum deposit requirement is already 10 per cent. There will also be no change in the Control of Hiring Order, which lays down minimum advance payments for rental transactions.
"The goods affected by this change include television sets, radio sets, gramophones, refrigerators and washing machines."
That, my Lords, is the statement.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, this is an important statement, and I gather it is to be operative, at least in one sense, very soon. Noble Lords will recollect the pressure which has been exercised by the noble Lord, Lord Stonham, in this House during the last few months, which will have demonstrated to their minds the necessity for doing something of this kind. The question is whether or not it has been delayed for too long. On the other hand, it throws a curious light upon the pay pause, or the limiting of incomes policy of the Government. It is certain that the industries which are covered by this statement this after- 408 noon—practically all electrical industries—are not able to make their normal contribution to the maintenance and expansion of the export trade unless they have some means of restoring that share of the overhead expenses of the industry which was formerly provided by the home-user. Therefore, from the point of view of commercial advantage, this step is undoubtedly something which is not only necessary but overdue. On the other hand, I hope that the Government may soon—in fact very soon—be able to give us a little more stable policy in these matters than we have been having for some time.
§ LORD MILLSMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition for his understanding of this move, and I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Stonham, for the assistance he has been in the matter. I did not follow the noble Viscount's reference to the "pay pause", which still remains an important element in the Government's policy; but we will not debate that now.