§ Mr. Moonmanasked the President of the Board of Trade if the National Board for Prices and Incomes has completed its examination of the costs and revenue of national newspapers; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MasonThe N.P.B.I.'s Report is being published today (Cmnd. 4277). The report makes valuable suggestions about how efficiency can be increased and industrial relations improved, which the 199W Government commend to managements and unions and hope they will follow up constructively. We are considering the suggestion of a separate inquiry into distribution of newspapers and periodicals. We accept the N.B.P.I.'s assessment of the extent to which price increases would be justified in 1970 and the timing of these increases will therefore now be for individual managements to decide in the light of the report and their judgment of the commercial situation.