HC Deb 18 April 1967 vol 745 cc399-400

Lords Amendment: No. 2, in page 15, line 31, after "calf" insert: or has, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, been brought into a herd to replace one which has borne a calf".

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. John Mackie)

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

The effect of the Amendment is to enable subsidy to be paid where a suitable heifer has been brought into a herd to replace a cow that has died or been culled. Without the Amendment, subsidy could be paid only if the heifer replacement had had its calf before the prescribed date.

Although there must be a prescribed date for administrative purposes, calving and replacement go on constantly throughout the year, without reference to an arbitrary date of this sort. The Amendment provides flexibility to enable us to deal with replacements in a sensible way that accords with the practical situation and to avoid the anomalies and inequity that could otherwise arise. In particular, it will enable subsidy to be paid where a cow which has suckled a spring-born calf is culled in the autumn and is replaced by a heifer which will itself calve in the coming spring and so maintain the breeding pattern of the herd. This represents sound husbandry, with the breeding herd kept constantly up to size.

8.30 p.m.

Mr. Godber

This would appear to be a sensible Amendment, practical in its application, and, therefore, we can agree with it.

However, I should like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary this. Is he satisfield that the wording ensures that there will be no abuse? We all wish to see sensible arrangements made, but he will appreciate, as we do, that if there were the risk of abuse it would tend to bring the provision into disrepute. I wonder how the conditions in which replacement takes place will be ensured. Presumably a check will be made, which the farming community would welcome. Adequate safeguards should be made in connection with provisions of this kind.

Mr. Mackie

With permission, I should like to reply to the right hon. Member for Grantham (Mr. Godber).

We have worded the provision as carefully as we could. As the right hon. Gentleman well knows, it is difficult to put anything on the Statute Book through which it is not sometimes possible to ride a cart and horse, to use an agricultural expression. But the wording, I think, makes it perfectly clear that what is involved is the breeding herd. This Amendment is simply to allow for replacement which goes on through the year. It does not allow somebody to bring in a whole lot of heifers just to get the subsidy. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that this is a safe provision.

Question put and agreed to. [Special Entry.]