asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the decision that the present allocation of clothing coupons must last until the end of October will be modified in the case of schoolchildren, who need outfits before beginning the autumn school term.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the difficulties which will be experienced by many parents in outfitting their children before they leave home for the winter term at school, in view of the fact that the new issue of clothing coupons will not be available until after the beginning of the school term; and whether, in order to meet this difficulty, he will arrange for the new issue of children's clothing coupons to be available at an earlier date so as to enable the purchase of winter clothing to be made before the beginning of the school term.

I would refer the hon. and gallant Members to the reply given on 22nd April to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport (Mr. Peter Freeman).

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the small concession he announced on Tuesday is hopelessly inadequate to cover the clothing needs for any child at all?

Yes, but so often one hears talk of the number of coupons which we should make available, and it must be clearly understood that the coupons made available are the maximum to meet the quantity of material available. It would be useless to increase the number of coupons in the absence of an equal increase in the amount of material available. It just is not there.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there is feeling throughout the country that it would be a good thing if, in children's clothing, some material was left for enlargement—tucks, and things?

I think that is the normal practice. That is a very useful suggestion, and I have no doubt it will be conveyed to the manufacturers as a result of the hon. Member's supplementary question.