§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection (1) what central and local funds are available to her staff for the implementation of price control legislation and consumer credit generally;
(2) what steps her Department has taken, and what funds are available or have been expended, to ensure the public 355W is aware of price control and consumer credit legislation.
Mr. Alan WilliamsUnder the Counter-Inflation Act 1973 the Price Commission is responsible for implementation and publicity of the Price Code, and has made extensive efforts to achieve the best results in these respects. Parliament voted the Commission £3.7 million for the current year. Under the Prices Acts 1974 and 1975, my Department is responsible for the administration and publicity of price regulation orders.
Apart from my responsibilities for making orders and regulations under the Consumer Credit Act, the Director General of Fair Trading has various functions thereunder including those relating to
Expenditure during 1973–74 on services now the responsibility of DPCP Estimates provision for the same services, 1975–76 £ £ HQ costs … … … 1,020,000 1,635,600 Price Commission … … … 1,967,618 3,694,000 Monopolies and Mergers Commission … … … 300,442 663,000 National Council of Social Service … … … 116,033 643,000 Metrication Board … … … 261,824 290,000 Quality Assurance Schemes … … … 10,000 27,000 British Standard Institute … … … 1,133,850 1,090,000 Subscriptions to international organisations … … … 108,833 84,000 Research into safety of consumer goods … … … 25,000 77,500 Miscellaneous … … … 10,000 6,000 Royal Society for the prevention of accidents … … … 16,000 17,000 TOTALS … … … 4,978,600 8,227,100 The Department of Prices and Consumer Protection is also responsible for the following services introduced since March 1974:
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1975–76 Estimates provision £ National Consumer Council 300,000 Nationalised Industries' Consumer Councils (1) 1,109,000 Promotion of activities of local advisory services 20,000 Expenditure on consumer information (paragraph 32 of Cmnd. 6151, "The attack on inflation", refers) 200,000(3) Total (2) £1,629,000 (1) Although they have for convenience been grouped together, three of the NICCs were before being transfered to DPCP already a charge to public funds, and their transfer did not therefore involve any increase in public expenditure. The remaining two were previously financed by their parent industries. (2) Excluding food subsidies. (3) Estimates provision to be sought. licensing and enforcement. The Director General has launched a comprehensive programme to inform the public about consumer credit legislation, and my Department has been vigorously promoting publicity of all its activities, not least those on the prices side of the Government's new counter-inflation strategy.