§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection why the bread subsidy scheme was abandoned with only one day's notice to bakers through a document reference HR22 (Mr. Baker).
§ Mr. Maclennan:We informed bakers immediately when the decision to end the bread subsidy was taken. At that time the statutory maximum prices were about to be raised to take account of the price increases notified by the bakers which were due to take effect from Monday 18th July. We had been told that both bakers and retailers would not wish to have price increases in close succession and that bakers planning a price increase would not wish to postpone it. Although we 706W would have preferred to end the subsidy a little later and thus give more notice, we therefore decided to act without delay so as to coincide with the change in the statutory maximum prices. We appreciated that the shortness of notice might cause some difficulty and officials of my Department and of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food therefore made every endeavour to ensure that the trade were told at once.