HL Deb 16 February 1967 vol 280 cc408-9

3.8 p.m.

EARL FERRERS

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government to state the number of different subsidies and grants which are available to farmers who farm either as tenants or as owner-occupiers.]

LORD WALSTON

My Lords, twelve commodities qualify for guaranteed prices. They consist of those listed in the First Schedule to the Agriculture Act 1957, together with sugar beet. In addition, individual tenants or owner-occupiers may benefit from sixteen direct farming grants and subsidies, while four other grants are payable to assist farmers' co-operatives and other organisations benefiting farmers. The main grants and subsidies are listed in Appendix V of the White Paper published after the 1966 Price Review.

EARL FERRERS

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his reply. Would he agree that the administration of these grants is becoming annually more complex, and would he give an assurance that everything possible will be done to see that their administration is kept as simple as possible?

LORD WALSTON

My Lords, I would not entirely agree with the noble Earl that they are becoming yearly more complex. But I certainly assure him that everything will be done, and is being done at present, to keep their administration, both from the Civil Service point of view and from the farmers' point of view, as simple as possible.