§ 113. Mr. G. Williamsasked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many applications for petrol remain unanswered by the petroleum officer at Tunbridge Wells; and what steps he is taking to speed up the process of issuing coupons.
§ Mr. RobensSince the reply to the first part of the Question involves a number of figures, I will circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT. In reply to the second part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Touche) on 4th December.
Following is the information:
On the evening of 8th December the applications on hand were approximately as follow:
- (a) First applications for supplementary allowances—720; all these were received on or after 1st December.
- (b) Renewed applications from persons previously in receipt of supplementary allowances—4,600. Almost all of these are for the period beginning 1st January, 1948, and will have been disposed of before that date.
- (c) Applications for allowances tot agricultural purposes—1,200. These are applications for the period beginning 1st December from applicants who have not followed the advice given to them to submit their applications early in November. It is estimated that all will have been dealt with by 13th December.
In addition there were about 3,800 cases on which a decision had been given by the regional petroleum officer but which were the subject of further correspondence because the applicant wanted 243W a greater allowance than had been given, or was dissatisfied with the decision not to grant an allowance. These must necessarily take a somewhat longer time to dispose of.