§ Mr. Sainsburyasked the Minister of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food what estimates he has made of the increased costs to food distributors arising from changes in the excise duties and value added tax on petrol and other fuel oils.
§ Mr. StrangThere are no official statistics on the usage of these fuel oils by food distributors. However, it is estimated that the increased costs are likely to be between £10 million and £20 million in aggregate if there is no reduction in fuel consumption. But the changes should. of course, strengthen the incentives to economise on fuel, and this could lead to some offsetting savings. Total household expenditure on food was about £12 billion in 1975.