§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to the answer of 13 December, for how many weeks after a nuclear attack he expects local authorities to provide emergency feeding and to control the issue of food to the local population.
§ Mrs. FennerThe length of time for which local authorities would have to provide emergency feeding and to control the issue of food to the population after a nuclear attack would depend on local circumstances at the time and cannot be estimated in advance. Local arrangements would, however, need to continue until it became possible to re-establish controls and supplies over a wider area.
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to the answer of 13 December, what powers local authorities have to authorise them to control the issue of food to the local population in the interim period after a nuclear attack.
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§ Mrs. FennerNo powers are available at present. They would be provided if ever the need arose.
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements have been made or are contemplated to ensure the ready availability of supplies of drinkable water implied in the penultimate sentence of paragraph 12 of the annex to Home Office circular No. ES 1/1979.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI have been asked to reply.
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Tyne Bridge (Mr. Cowans) on 13 December. —[Vol. 50, c. 412–413.]