§ 9.3 p.m.
§ EARL FERRERS rose to move, That the Draft Common Agricultural Policy (Protection of Community Arrangements) Regulations 1973, laid before the House on February 20, be approved. The noble Earl said: My Lords, in view of the fact that there is yet another debate to follow, I hope I shall be interpreting your Lordships' wishes correctly, without implying any discourtesy, if I make my remarks upon these two Orders as brief as possible. The purpose of the two Instruments which are before your Lordships' House to-day is to give the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce adequate powers to enable it to protect the large sums of money which it will be disbursing in carrying out the E.E.C. system of agricultural support. I must apologise to your Lordships for the necessity we have been under to make a No. 2 Order. The original Order was defective through some minor errors in the Schedule. These errors would have been unlikely to have had any marked effect on the powers of the Intervention Board, but it seemed right that they should be corrected immediately they had been discovered.
§ My Lords, the powers which these Instruments will give the Intervention 1263 Board to protect the commodity arrangements are generally on the same lines as those which the Agricultural Departments have used for the past 25 years or so in order to protect the guaranteed payments under the system of support which we have previously enjoyed. Basically, all that the Instruments do is to require people who are engaged in trade in the commodities which are specified in the two Instruments—and these are the products for which there is some system of E.E.C. support—to keep and retain records, and to produce them, on the request of an authorised officer of the Intervention Board or of the Agricultural Departments. They will also provide similar powers in respect of levies, although these do not form a very prominent part of the E.E.C. support system.
§ Measures must be taken to ensure that there is no fraud and to promote the smooth running of the whole apparatus. We used to take similar action to protect the money spent on our guarantee payments in Orders which will be familiar to your Lordships, such as the Cereals (Protection of Guarantees) Order and the Fatstock (Protection of Guarantees) Order. These Orders which are before your Lordships to-day are similarly named, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (Protection of Community Arrangements) Order, and they have similar protecting functions to ensure the correct expenditure of public money. I trust that with that brief explanation your Lordships will approve them. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Draft Common Agricultural Policy (Protection of Community Arrangements) Regulations 1973, laid before the House on February 20, be approved.—(Earl Ferrers.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.