HC Deb 30 July 1946 vol 426 cc165-6W
151. Mr. Henderson Stewart

asked the Minister of Food if he is now able to announce the arrangements made with regard to the application of bread rationing upon farmworkers' perquisites, including the provision of meal and flour, and with particular reference to farmworkers and shepherds living in remote places where the carrying of stocks of food is essential.

Dr. Edith Summerskill

I will arrange for oatmeal and flour to be supplied free of points or bread units where it is part of a farmworker's wages; and for supplies to be obtained in bulk for workers in remote areas.

Sir J. Mellor

asked the Minister of Food if he will extend to persons em- ployed in the cooking, preparation and service of foods, including incidental kitchen work, where such foods are offered for sale or consumed on premises other than private residences, the facilities for obtaining additional bread units, specified in leaflet BMW 1, which are granted to workers employed in the manufacture of food and drink products, who in many cases work side by side with the said persons.

Mr. Strachey

The list of trades to be counted as manual workers was drawn up in consultation with the Ministry of Labour, the T.U.C. and the B.E.C. Appeals for the addition of occupations to the list shall be made in the first instance to the T.U.C. through the trade union concerned.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

asked the Minister of Food how the proposed basic scale of bread rationing in this country compares with that recently announced for Italy.

Mr. Strachey

The basic bread ration in Italy is 78½ oz. (16½ oz. of this being pasta) and in the United Kingdom it is 63 oz.; in this country there are larger allowances for special classes; the most important of these being, manual workers (men) 105 oz. and (women) 77 oz., adolescent manual workers (boys) 133 oz. and (girls) 105 oz., other adolescents 91 oz. and expectant mothers 77 oz. The figures themselves do not justify any conclusions regarding the comparative standards of living in the two countries. Like most other countries with a comparatively low standard of living, Italy has always been a heavy consumer of bread; thus, before the war, the consumption of flour per head in Italy was nearly twice that in the United Kingdom.