§ Mr. R. Gibsonasked the Minister of Agriculture how many firms have taken advantage of the milk in industries scheme; how many workpeople, men and women, respectively, are employed by those firms; how many of these take advantage of the scheme; and will he give the names of the larger firms that have recently joined the scheme?
§ Sir R. Dorman-SmithI am informed by the National Milk Publicity Council that at the end of June this year 7,123 firms in England and Wales were taking advantage of the milk in industries scheme. These firms employ 2,237,500 persons, but I am unable to say how many of these actually take milk under the scheme. A similar scheme is organised by the Scottish Milk Marketing Board in its area and I understand that about 1,200 firms are taking advantage of it. While I cannot say how many persons are employed by those firms, I am informed that about 50,000 people are consuming milk under the scheme. As regards the last part of the question, I am told that the scheme has recently been adopted in England in the Vickers-Armstrong works at Barrow-in-Furness and in the Imperial Chemical Industries Works at Billingham, and in Scotland by Messrs. Barclay, Curie and Company and Messrs. Stewart and Lloyds, both of Glasgow, and by Messrs. Redpath, Brown and Company, of Edinburgh.