§ 86. Mr. W. Fosterasked the Minister of Food what allocation of non-rationed goods was made to the Wigan food area in March, 1946, and in February and March, 1947.
§ Dr. SummerskillVery few unrationed foods are, in fact, allocated by my Department. My hon. Friend is no doubt referring to the recent re-allocation of certain foodstuffs used for cakes, meat products and fried fish to areas which suffered from a high rate of unemployment and a low general level of earnings during the prewar datum period. Whilst the allocations of these foodstuffs have varied from time to time in accordance with the general supply position, the basic or datum allocation for the area which includes the county borough of Wigan had not been changed until the end of last month, when a general increase of about one-sixth was made for these commodities.