§ Mr. Oakesasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will now make a statement on the Report of the Monopolies Commission on the supply of household detergents.
§ Mr. JayThe Report was published this morning. The Commission has found that the conditions to which the monopolies legislation applies prevail as respects the supply of household detergents. Unilever Limited and Procter & Gamble Limited each supplies more than one-third of all the household detergents supplied in the United Kingdom. The Commission also found that neither "monopoly" position, as such, operated against the public interest and that neither might be expected to do so. But it concluded that the policies pursued by both companies on advertising and promotion, and their price policies, operated and might be expected to operate against the public interest.
Accordingly, the Monopolies Commission recommended that substantial percentage reductions, to be decided by the Board of Trade in consultation with Unilever and Procter & Gamble, should be made in their wholesale selling prices for household detergents; that at least 40 per per cent. reduction in selling expenses should accompany the price reduction; and that price consultations with the Companies might well begin on the basis of an average 20 per cent. reduction in price. For the longer term, the Commission recommended that the Board of Trade should consider the possibility of introducing some form of automatic sanction that would discourage excessive selling expenditure in the field of household detergents, and should also continue to keep a watch on prices.
I am in general agreement with the Report and am entering into immediate discussions with the two Companies about the measures to be adopted in order to 362W implement the recommendations that wholesale selling prices be reduced by 20 per cent. on average. On the Commission's longer term recommendation, while I shall continue to consider means of preventing excessive selling expenditure in the future, it will be open to the Government to refer to the National Board for Prices and Incomes any increase in prices of household detergents which is thought to be unjustified.