§ 58 and 59. Mr. Hoggasked the Minister of Food (1) how many B.U.s have been converted into points;
(2) from what sources comes the food to meet the additional points required for the conversion of B.Us.; and why the point value of food on points was not adjusted before.
§ Dr. SummerskillApproximately 400 million B.Us. were exchanged for points during the ten weeks ended 28th September. This means that each of us got on the average three extra points additional to the normal 32 per four weeks ration period. So the extra supplies of points goods needed to meet this demand were not enormous. In the absence of the points exchange scheme, we should no doubt have distributed these supplies either by down pointing some goods a little or by giving people a few extra points. The extra points foods to which the hon. Member refers were drawn from small reserves necessarily held to meet normal fluctuations in supplies and emergencies; the amounts in reserve were not sufficiently large to justify a change in the point value of the foods in question.