§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what representations he has received from consumers' organisations concerning the practice by some licensed establishments of selling wine in unlined or unmarked glasses in contravention of the voluntary code of practice agreed between the Government and the licensed trade;
(2) what representations he has received from the local authorities' co-ordinating body on trading standards, concerning the operation of the voluntary code of practice agreed between the Government and the licensed trade on the sale of wine by the glass;
(3) if he will introduce legislation to give statutory effect to provisions of the voluntary code of practice on the sale of wine which require public house licensees to display the price and the precise volume by which wine is sold by the glass.
§ Mr. FletcherSince the introduction of the voluntary code of practice in May 1984 the Department has not received any representations from consumer organisations concerning sales of wine in unmarked glasses.
In October last year the Department received from LACOTS a copy of a survey undertaken by local authorities to ascertain the levels of compliance with the code. This showed that many licensees were unaware of the provisions of the code and that it had not been adopted as widely as had been hoped. However, since the code has been in operation for less than six months, LACOTS decided to conduct a further survey early in 1985. When these results are available we shall be better able to judge the success of the code and decide what further action, if any, is necessary.