§ 65. Mr. Skeffingtonasked the President of the Board of Trade what action he proposes to take in relation to paragraph 14 of the Interim Report of the Committee on Consumer Protection.
§ Mr. J. RodgersAs regards action on the Interim Report, I cannot add to the reply which I gave to the hon. Members for Nottingham, North (Mr. Whitlock) and Hillsborough (Mr. Darling) on 10th May. Arising from the point which the hon.
132WFinance Act, 1956, as amended by subsequent Finance Acts to a total of £1,620 million in respect of seven nationalised industries including those with which this Question is concerned. But separate totals for the industries dealt with have not been specified.
Compensation took a variety of forms and the position can best be shown, except in the case of the Airways Corporations, by reference to the capital liabilities assumed by the industries, as shown in the following table:
Member for Hillsborough then made, I can assure the House that it has for some time been the practice to pursue reported cases of appliances not coin-forming in this respect to the British Standard with the importers where these can be identified, and that the importers have been most co-operative in putting matters right. Moreover, I am informed that agreement on a new European Standard was reached last week, and that European countries are being invited to amend their regulations so as to conform to this standard by the 1st July, 1961.