§ Mrs. Sally Oppenheimasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what will be the total cost to the Exchequer in the next full milk marketing year of holding the price of a pint of milk down to 5.5p per pint, in view of increases given to milk producers at the latest annual review, and increases in the costs of distribution; and what the consumer subsidy of 1p per pint will cost the Exchequer on top of this.
§ Mr MaclennanOn the basis of the latest available information, payments to the Milk Marketing Boards in the current financial year are estimated at about £275 million. The cost of reducing the retail price by 1p per pint from 21st April will be about £127 million.
§ Mrs. Sally Oppenheimasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection if the cost to the Exchequer of increases in the price of milk paid to producers and increases in the cost of milk distribution as announced at the latest annual agricultural price review will form part of the £500 million allocated for food subsidies.
§ Mr. MaclennanThe payments that will be made to the Milk Marketing Boards to avoid recovering from the consumer any part of the increased costs of production and distribution will be made from the £500 million allocated for food subsidies in the Budget Statement, together with the £50 million for which provision had already been made in published Estimates.