§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to introduce legislation to prescribe the quantities in which wine may be sold by the glass.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Trefgarne)I am pleased to announce that the Government propose to make an order prescribing the measures in which wine may be sold by the glass in licensed premises. The trade's voluntary code of practice on prescribed measures for wine has made a useful contribution in this field. Nevertheless, I believe that the increase in the amount of wine sold by the glass in licensed premises has now tipped the balance in favour of prescribing measures for wine.
We shall shortly be consulting interested parties about the proposal, in particular as to the volume to be prescribed and the transitional period. We shall also be notifying the proposal to the EC Commission as we are required to do by Directive 83/189. We would hope to be able to complete these steps in time to lay the order before Parliament before the summer under the affirmative resolution procedure.