§ Mr. Grocottasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what progress has been made in discussions with the brewers on increasing competition in the industry; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Hattersley:My right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and I met representatives of the Brewers' Society in May to discuss changes which we wished to see made in the structure of the brewing industry. At that meeting the Brewers' Society agreed to conduct a comprehensive review of the extent of local monopolies, and to present to us, within six months a systematic programme of public house exchanges designed to eradicate local monopolies. It also agreed to investigate how draught ales could be exchanged between brewers, in areas where there is demand.
My right hon. Friend and I met representatives of the Brewers' Society again today, to discuss the progress made since our earlier talks. They had earlier presented to us, within the six months period agreed, a comprehensive review of local monopolies, which provides the basis for a systematic programme to exchange public houses between brewers.
The review is based on an analysis of local government administrative units with populations greater than 100,000. All such areas in which a single brewer owns more than 50 per cent. of the public houses have been identified. In each area so identified, the national brewers concerned have agreed in principle to reduce the number of public houses they own in the area to below 50 per cent. by a programme of public house exchanges. This programme is a major operation. It will involve some 1,000 public houses and will necessarily take several years to complete. At the end of it, no national brewer will own more than half the public houses in any of the areas defined above. On average, ownership of 50 per cent of public houses in an area can be equated with sales through them of just over a third of all the beer sold in that 75W area. We are, therefore, confident that reducing ownership of public houses to below the 50 per cent. figure will in fact significantly extend consumer choice and hence increase competition.
The brewers involved in the exchange will of course be consulting all those likely to be affected: customers, licensees, and their own employees.
My right hon. Friend and I also discussed with the Brewers' Society the steps undertaken by its members to explore how draught ales could be exchanged in areas where demand justified this. It set out the steps that its members had taken to assess the demand for beers of this type, and the practical means of satisfying this. We made clear to the Brewers' Society our determination that the assessments carried out should lead to the exchange of draught ales between brewers. We were glad to note that some brewers were already making arrangements to do this, and pressed on the Brewers' Society the need for others among its members to do the same. There should, therefore, be an increase in the extent to which draught ales are exchanged.
We have agreed with the Brewers' Society that officials from my Depart
BUTTER PRICES-AVERAGE PRICE PER HALF-POUND Home produced p Danish p New Zealand p October 1976 … … … … … 24.8 25.6 23.0 1977— January … … … … … 28.8 29.3 26.9 February … … … … … 29.1 29.8 27.3 March … … … … … 29.2 29.9 27.8 April … … … … … 29.0 29.8 27.7 May … … … … … 25.0 26.1 23.7 June … … … … … 24.6 25.7 23.8 July … … … … … 24.7 26.2 24.2 August … … … … … 25.3 26.3 24.6 September … … … … … 26.0 27.3 25.2 October … … … … … 26.1 28.6 25.1 November … … … … … 26.2 29.2 25.7 December … … … … … 26.6 29.5 25.9 1978— January … … … … … 26.6 29.8 26.0 February … … … … … 27.0 29.8 25.8 March … … … … … 27.6 29.9 26.1 April … … … … … 28.2 30.0 26.7 May … … … … … 28.6 30.2 27.0 June … … … … … 29.4 31.1 28.1 July … … … … … 30.7 32.7 30.3 August … … … … … 31.5 33.7 31.2 September … … … … … 32.7 34.5 31.4 October … … … … … 33.6 35.3 31.2 Source: Department of Employment Gazette.