§ Mr. Corbettasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection whether any changes are being made to the cash limits set for his Department in Command Paper No. 6567.
§ Mr. Hattersley:Yes. The provisions of the Price Commission Bill now before Parliament will call for additional expenditure and cash block DPCP3 is being increased from £13.4 million to £15.8 million.
Following the introduction of the EEC butter subsidy announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 27th April, and the announcement today by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer of continued expenditure on the milk subsidy, cash block DPCP2 is increased from £43.4 million to £220.5 million. The expenditure will be met from within the existing programme totals and Contingency Reserve set out in Cmnd. 6721; there is no addition to total planned expenditure.
Provision for costs of the Price Commission and the butter subsidy has been 272W made in the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection Vote and the Agricultural Support Vote respectively, presented to the House on 8th July. A further Supplementary Estimate for the milk subsidy will be presented in due course. Any necessary additional expenditure on milk, in advance of the Supplementary Estimate, will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.