§ 22. Mr. W. Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has yet completed his examination of the payment of agricultural grants and subsidies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Selwyn LloydThe agricultural grants and subsidies will come under examination at the annual Farm Price Review this month, and the Government's decisions with regard to them will not be taken and made known until after that review has been held.
§ Mr. HamiltonCan the Chancellor say whether, in the course of that review, account will be taken of the recent Report from the Estimates Committee which asserts that the Treasury has no control whatever over either the total amount of these subsidies or the directions in which they are applied? In view of the fact that there is widespread feeling amongst farmers and consumers, and, indeed, butchers, that they do not have these incomes, can the right hon. and learned Gentleman give a specific undertaking that in the course of his investigations he will tell us where the money is going?
§ Mr. LloydThe hon. Member is raising issues far wider than his Question. The time when these matters are taken into account is during the course of the Price Review. The time to debate them 218 is when the Government's decisions on the Price Review are announced.