§ 7. Mr. Harrisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures will be taken to compensate dairy producers for cuts in quota and related measures.
§ Mr. JoplingCompensation under the European Community outgoers scheme has been increased by 50 per cent. to a total of 27.5p per litre, payable over seven years. In addition, compensation of 6.5p per litre per year will be paid for the 4 per cent. temporary suspension of quota.
§ Mr. HarrisAlthough I in no way minimise the impact of quotas and the toughening up of quotas on the farming industry, and indeed on the whole rural economy, may I ask whether my right hon. Friend agrees that the compensation to which he has referred provides something of a reasonable cushion for the problems presented by those cuts?
§ Mr. JoplingThat is right. The compensation of 6.5p a litre for the temporary suspension must be compared with the profitability of milk at 3p and 4p a litre. As my hon. Friend says, the compensation is generous by any standard.
§ Miss MaynardDoes the Minister agree that not only dairy farmers but dairy workers on the farm suffer from milk quotas? Does he accept that, in 1984–85, there was a threefold decrease in the full-time labour force in the counties with the highest milk production compared with previous years? Is it not high time that farm workers who lose their jobs because of milk quotas were compensated beyond the redundancy payments scheme, especially as some of the older farm workers will never get another job?
§ Mr. JoplingThe purpose of quota cuts is to eliminate surpluses and to secure a viable future for the dairy industry as a whole. I accept that that will be a painful process. It could involve job losses, but the extent of job losses is not yet clear. I do not think, according to the evidence of the changes during the previous round of quotas and the reduction in milk production, that there was a huge number of redundancies among farm workers. There were some, but I think that the hon. Lady will agree that it was not a huge number.
§ Mr. HicksWill my right hon. Friend confirm that should the existing voluntary outgoers scheme for milk fail to achieve the objective of a 2 per cent. reduction producers would still receive the 27.5p a litre payment under any subsequent compulsory scheme?
§ Mr. JoplingNo. I think that that would not be possible under the Community's rules. I hope that the new arrangements and the increased outgoers payments—whereby a producer with a 40-cow herd would receive £7,800 a year for seven years compared with £5,200 a year for seven years under the previous arrangements—will allow us to spend all this money paying people to go out of milk production so that we do not need to reduce the quotas of those who wish to remain in it.
§ Mr. D. E. ThomasWill the Minister and his agriculture colleagues address the issue of the transfer of quotas 1019 between regions and nations in the United Kingdom? Is he aware of the concern that the increased potential number of bankruptcies among farmers may result in quotas being sold separately from farms, thereby increasing the transfer of quotas?
§ Mr. JoplingThe hon. Gentleman might like to study the settlement that was made. He would find that, although the Commission proposed that the transfer between regions should be eliminated, in the end we agreed to allow those transfers to remain.