§ 13. Mr. Spenceasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he now expects to get agreement in the Council of Ministers to extend the Community's less favoured areas directive to United Kingdom marginal land.
§ Mrs. FennerI congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ryedale (Mr. Spence) on his appointment to the Select Committee on Agriculture and assure him that we are continuing to press the Council of Ministers to approve the United Kingdom's case for designation of certain marginal areas as less favoured. I regret, however, that I cannot predict when we shall achieve this outcome.
§ Mr. SpenceI thank my hon. Friend for her congratulations on my appointment to the Committee. Will she bear in mind that we have been waiting for action in this matter since 1979, when the Government report on hill areas was produced — the Select Committee on Agriculture also reported on the uplands—and in the meantime conditions in the hills have worsened? Will she use her best endeavours to see that progress is made as quickly as possible?
§ Mrs. FennerI am aware that it has taken a while for the report to be implemented, but designation is not a simple formality. Extensive data were required on a wide range of economic and social factors, and the Commission needed time to consider them. There is concern, not about the technical merits of our case, but about the general question of extending the less favoured areas at a time when the whole structural policy is under review.
§ Mr. SkinnerIf the Government's policy and intention are to look after and exploit all the marginal land to reduce 1156 the amount of food imports, why does the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food not pass a message to the rest of the Cabinet that what is good for marginal land should be good for marginal pits?
§ Mrs. FennerI made this point when I was last asked that question. I do not have at the tip of my tongue the figures for the losses of marginal pits, but the position of marginal land is certainly not the same.
§ Mr. McQuarrieWhen my hon. Friend addresses the issue of marginal land, will she remember that the rural areas of Scotland are as less favoured as those in the highlands and upland areas? Will she consider those areas when discussing allotting the status of less favoured areas?
§ Mrs. FennerThe marginal lands which are being considered as additional to the less favoured areas have been drawn out, and the exact sites have been made public. Those are the areas to which the discussion in Europe is directed.
§ Mr. Geraint HowellsDoes the Minister agree that this directive will not be implemented for at last least five years, if ever?
§ Mrs. FennerWe are doing our best to have the directive implemented sooner than that.