HC Deb 17 November 1949 vol 469 cc2193-4
56. Mr. Collins

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that many farmers are not taking up their full allocation of feedingstuffs for pigs and poultry; and if he will give his feedingstuffs officers discretion to use this surplus by making allocations to producers without a 1939 entitlement who can show that with increased supplies of feedingstuffs they can rear larger numbers of pigs and poultry.

Mr. T. Williams

The scales of rations are determined from estimates of the total supplies likely to be available, after taking account of the fact that some farmers do not take up their full entitlement. There is, therefore, no surplus which could be distributed in the way suggested by my hon. Friend.

Mr. Collins

Would it not be possible to consider some sort of arrangement as implied in the second part of my Question, whereby feedingstuffs' officers would have some discretion in this matter, because, apparently, large quantities are not being taken up?

Mr. Williams

Producers without a 1939 entitlement, if they have a holding of more than an acre, have an entitlement under the new scheme based on partial self-sufficiency.

Mr. Drayson

Can we take it from the Minister's reply that there are not, in fact, enough feedingstuffs to meet the basic ration for farmers? Does the right hon. Gentleman take into calculation the possibility that some percentage of them will not take up their full allocation?

Mr. Williams

The hon. Gentleman cannot take anything of the kind. When we promise a ration over a period the rations are available, but if some farmers entitled to them do not call for them, then at the subsequent rationing period we have just that much more to distribute.

Mr. Harrison

Can my right hon. Friend say how it comes about that some farmers do not take up their full allocation of feedingstuffs?

Mr. Williams

I am afraid that that is a question I do not put to them.

59. Mr. Vernon Bartlett

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware of the difficult financial situation in which many disabled ex-Service men will find themselves as a result of the loss of a subsidy on feedingstuffs for poultry; and whether he will compensate them by increasing their allocation of rations above their existing allocation for 150 head of poultry.

Mr. T. Williams

I cannot assess the effects of the removal of the feedingstuffs subsidy on disabled ex-Service men until egg prices for 1950–51 are fixed after the next February review. The second part of the Question does not, therefore, arise; but when it becomes possible to revise poultry ration scales I will in any case be glad to reconsider the allocation of rations for this special class of producers.