SILO SUBSIDIES (VARIATION) (ENGLAND AND WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND) SCHEME, 1958 (Hansard, 12 February 1958)

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD STRATHCLYDE)
My Lords, last year the Government introduced a Scheme under which grants are payable towards the construction or improvement of plant for making silage; your Lordships may recollect that this was done under powers conferred by the Agriculture (Silo Subsidies) Act, 1956. The statutory instruments which I am now asking the House to approve make some modifications in that Scheme, but before I describe them I should like to say a word or two about the progress of the Scheme in general.
Briefly, the response has been even greater than was expected. Nearly 13,500 projects were approved for grant in the United Kingdom as a whole up to the end of December, 1957, and of these over 7,600 have been completed. The detailed figures are: England, 9,700, Wales, 1,711; Northern Ireland, 1,210, and Scotland, 848. The grants approved amount to approximately £2 million, and grants already paid out to £1,100,000. I think, therefore, we can say that the Scheme has been a success and that it must be contributing substantially to the increased production of silage, which is the object it was designed to further.
The Variation Schemes now before your Lordships, which are in similar terms for Scotland, on the one hand, and England and Wales and Northern Ireland, on the other, introduce certain modifications in the light of a year's experience of the Scheme. None of these involves any point of principle. For example, the definition of "silo" is tightened. The improvement of tower 641 silos (as distinct from pit silos) is excluded from the Schemes, because of the difficulty of ensuring that the existing walls are strong enough to bear extra weight. The Minister of Agriculture and the Secretary of State for Scotland are empowered to give grant in special cases where the works to be carried out, though of a like nature, do not fall strictly within the description of works for which grant may normally be awarded. Limits are placed on the amount of grant available for certain types of work wherein practice the amount available under the original Schemes has been found to be unjustifiably high.
These proposed amendments, which have been agreed with the National Farmers' Union, are designed to bring the Schemes more into line with their original purpose, and they are, as I have said, based on actual experience. I am sure, therefore, that they will meet with your Lordships' approval. I beg to move.

§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH
My Lords, may I ask the Minister what has been the average paid per silo in the £1 million-odd which has been paid out? What is the average cost at present per silo of the Government's grant?

§ LORD STRATHCLYDE
My Lords, the average grant approved has been £147 in England and Wales, £175 in Scotland and £222 in Northern Ireland.