§ Mr. H. Nichollsasked the Minister of Food what proposals he expects to be able to make for the decontrol of oils and fats in the reasonably near future.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeThe Government have decided to decontrol milk products and fats during the course of next year. The rationing and price control of these foods will cease, procurement will be returned to the trade and most of the controls now in force in respect of these commodities will be brought to an end.
The decontrol of this range of foodstuffs will be a complex operation and the precise date of each step in the process will be determined in relation to the circumstances of each commodity. The intention in general terms, however, is to decontrol condensed and dried milks in the early spring; to deration butter, margarine, cheese and cooking fats in the early summer and to complete the process of decontrol by the autumn.
The detailed arrangements for the decontrol of these commodities will be discussed with the interests concerned.