§ Mr. Charles Smithasked the Minister of Food (1) under what agreement with his Department the flour milling industry is at present operating; and whether any matters still remain unresolved with regard to earlier agreements made in respect of operation from 1939 onward; what payments have been made to the industry additional to those mentioned in his written reply on this subject on 9th July of this year; and whether the amount of profit element due under agreements operating from 1939 onwards has yet been determined;
(2) whether he will make a statement on the range in costs of flour milling in the year ended 31st August, 1943, and in the year for which he has most recent comprehensive information; how the costs of a representative high cost and representative low cost mill during the two periods were divided as between production costs, sales costs and delivery costs; and whether he will compare the rate of profit per sack of flour, 280 lb., for the two mills in the two periods.
(3) what information is in the hands of his Department with regard to flour milling costs; whether he will state the average costs of milling a sack of flour during the most recent period for which he has information covering mills which 428W accounted in the aggregate for 50 per cent. or more of flour production; how that cost is divided between production costs, sales costs and distributing costs; and what is the average rate of profit per sack of flour milled;
(4) what it is now estimated the subsidy on flour and bread will amount to during the course of the current financial year; how much of this will be accounted for by payments to stabilise the price of flour and how much by payments to bakers; to what main uses, other than the baking of bread, flour is at present put; and what proportions of the supply during the latest convenient period were put to each use named;
(5) how many bakers drew subsidy during last year in respect of sacks of flour used for bread making; how many loaves his Department estimates are baked from a 280 lb. sack of flour; and at what basis the rate of subsidy is calculated.
§ Mr. StracheyPreparation of the information requested will involve considerable work and take some time. It will be prepared as quickly as possible and I will circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT immediately after the Christmas Recess.
§ Mr. Charles Smithasked the Minister of Food what the aggregate capacity of flour milling plants, expressed in sacks of flour processed per hour, in the United Kingdom was in 1939 and 1945; what it is today; what proportion of the capacity is at present being regularly used; and what is his estimate of the capacity which would be sufficient under present normal working conditions to mill the country's current consumption of flour.
§ Mr. StracheyI regret that we have not the information for which my hon. Friend asks in the first and second parts of his Question. The effective capacity of mills in the United Kingdom is being fully used. It is estimated that under normal working conditions a capacity of 5,528 sacks per hour would be necessary to satisfy demand at the present rate of offtake.