HL Deb 24 April 1969 vol 301 c548
LORD NUNBURNHOLME

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 what action has been taken by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to prohibit the export for slaughter of the best ewe tegs, which should be retained in Great Britain to maintain and increase our breeding flocks.]

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government have no plans for prohibiting the export trade in fat sheep, which has helped to strengthen the market to the benefit of our producers and has brought in valuable foreign exchange. No figures of the numbers of ewe tegs exported are separately available, but this trade should not adversely affect our production objectives, since those which are being sold for slaughter abroad would, if they had been retained in this country, most probably have been used for meat rather than kept for breeding next season.