§ 9. Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements he is 471 making for allocating secondary milk quotas in the year following 31 March 1985 and subsequent years in relation to the needs of farmers who are part way through development plans.
§ Mr. JoplingThe Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations allow the tribunal to make awards of secondary quota only in respect of expansion plans giving rise to production in the 1984–85 milk year. If we had made provision for plans extending into later years, this would have necessitated a bigger reduction in calculating quotas for other producers, and I do not think this would have been the right course.
§ Mr. RossIs the Minister aware that many producers, particularly those undertaking development plans, will have a rude shock at the end of March when they find that their quota is 30 per cent. less than they had bargained for? Is not the answer for the Minister to extend the outgoers scheme so that there will be more money to provide a fairer quota for those engaged in milk production?
§ Mr. JoplingI think that we did immensely well to get £50 million for the outgoers scheme, and it has been a satisfactory sum. However, I am aware of the problems of producers who made firm plans before quotas were introduced, but who will not have finished the work until the end of 1984–85. I am prepared to give the matter further thought. The amount of quota available is very limited, and I would find it hard to justify going beyond 31 March 1985, when awards in respect of the current year will themselves be subject to scaling down.
§ Rev. Ian PaisleyWill the Minister comment on Mr. Andriessen's proposal that the regional quota be spread over the whole national territory so that this year Northern Ireland will be exempt from paying superlevy?
§ Mr. JoplingWe have arrangements that are being discussed in Brussels at the moment, which would allow one to redistribute quota beyond the area of the dairies that were originally in the regulations. Those are still matters for discussion. However, I see that the amount of milk being produced in Northern Ireland is coming back towards the quota level.
§ Miss MaynardIn view of the fact that we now know that farm workers, dairy workers and some transport workers are losing their jobs because of the milk quotas, is the Minister prepared to go back to the EEC to get some money in compensation for workers who have lost their livelihood as a result of the milk quota scheme?
§ Mr. JoplingThe hon. Lady, to whom I have answered a similar question before, will know that we have arrangements for redundancy payments in this country and that some firms, for instance the Milk Marketing Board, provide redundancy terms that are considerably more generous than those of the state scheme.
§ Mr. Phillip OppenheimIs my right hon. Friend aware that producer-retailers are still unable to sell the full amount of their production quota direct to the public? Is he further aware that flexibility of wholesale quotas does little to alleviate that situation? Does my right hon. Friend remember that some nine months ago he committed himself to sort out the situation as soon as possible?
§ Mr. JoplingWe have been raising that matter at every meeting of the Council of Ministers since the middle of last summer, and I am glad to say that one of the first things that the new Commissioner did was to introduce some 472 proposals that sought to deal with the problem of inflexibility between a direct and a wholesale quota when they are on one farm. We are continuing to discuss that. I hope that we shall be able to sort it out and finalise it at the next meeting of the Council at the end of the month.
Mr. John David TaylorDoes the facility that makes it possible to transfer quotas from one part of the United Kingdom to another apply to this year only?
§ Mr. JoplingWe have limited arrangements, as the right hon. Gentleman will know, for transferring milk from one farm to another. He will also know that my Department recently issued a consultation paper to try to find ways in future of making that simpler.
§ Mr. MacleanNotwithstanding my right hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Ross), is he aware that there are a few farmers in my constituency who are halfway through a development scheme, who will have no quota at all from 1985 onwards? In addition to trying to bring the 200,000 litre men up to full strength, will my right hon. Friend change his mind and attempt to find some quota for those small farmers who will have no livelihood unless they get some quota for 1985–86?
§ Mr. JoplingI am not absolutely clear in my mind about the question that my hon. Friend asks because, as I understand it, the problem concerns quota being available for future expansion after 1 April this year. However, if my hon. Friend cares to send me details of specific problems, I shall have a look at them and see what can be done.
§ Mr. Home RobertsonSince the tribunals' recommended allocations of secondary quota are being scaled down by 42.5 per cent. in Scotland and 35 per cent. in England and Wales, and since it is likely that Britain could be 200 million litres short of its national quota this year, which is equivalent to the production of about 40,000 cows, will the Minister now accept that he has made a shambles of this and do something about it by expanding the outgoers scheme and allowing the milk marketing boards to do something about transferring quota between producers?
§ Mr. JoplingThe hon. Gentleman has the wrong end of the stick altogether. The awards of the panels and tribunals will have to be scaled down, but that is a function of the extra 2.5 per cent. by which we lowered the primary quotas of milk producers in order to deal with hardship cases. I took advice from the National Farmers Unions at the time on whether it had a better figure than 2.5 per cent. in mind. Of course, we could have helped if we had taken 3 or 3.5 per cent. off milk producers' primary quotas, but the unions told me that they did not have a better figure than 2.5 per cent. in mind.