Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Fisheries and Food – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 2 February 1959.
Mr Frederick Willey
, Sunderland North
12:00,
2 February 1959
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on potato supplies.
Mr John Hare
, Sudbury and Woodbridge
The provisional estimate of yield from the 1958 United Kingdom crop is 6·8 tons per acre, compared with 7 tons per acre in 1957. Imported potatoes continue to provide a substantial addition to home produced supplies. Rather more than 200,000 tons of main crop potatoes have so far arrived this season, compared with arrivals of about 40,000 tons by the same date last season.
Mr Frederick Willey
, Sunderland North
The right hon. Gentleman is aware that the retail price of potatoes is extremely high, higher even than last year. Can he assure the House that supplies will be brought in later this year to prevent a further increase in price? Can he tell us whether the supplies promised from Poland will in fact be received?
Mr John Hare
, Sudbury and Woodbridge
My information is that sufficient potatoes are available for export in Continental countries to provide the quantities which we need. I have had no advice to the contrary.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
