§ Mrs. PeacockTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will immediately refer for examination by the Office of Fair Trading the methods employed by the Milk Marketing Board in seeking to establish Milk Marque as its private monopolistic successor.
§ Mr. Neil HamiltonThe Office of Fair Trading has been consulted on the reorganisation scheme which the Milk Marketing Board has submitted to my right hon. Friends the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Wales. My right hon. Friends have recently completed public consultation on the scheme. They will have regard to whether the scheme takes account of the interests of consumers and producers of milk and to whether the structure of the new arrangements contemplated by the scheme is such as to allow for the development of competition in milk marketing in deciding whether to approve it.
The wholesale supply of milk is at present excluded from the monopoly reference powers of the Director General of Fair Trading under the provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973, but I propose to make an order withdrawing this exclusion from the date reorganisation takes place. The Director General of Fair Trading will then have a responsibility to monitor developments in the milk market and will be able to make a reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission if he deems it appropriate.