§ [No. 10]
§ After Clause 11, page 13, line 12, at end insert the following new clause:
§ Grants for farm improvements
§ " … In subsection (9) of section 30 of the Agriculture Act 1967 (which limits the grants referred to in that subsection to one hundred and seventy million pounds) for the words 'one hundred and seventy million pounds' there shall be substituted the words' one hundred and eighty million pounds'."
§ 7.41 p.m.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with 845 the Commons in their Amendment No. 10. This is a simple provision to raise the ceiling on expenditure under both the 1957 and 1967 Farm Improvement Schemes from £170 million to £180 million. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Earl Ferrers.)
§ LORD HOYMy Lords, how was this figure arrived at? While I am not quarrelling with the increase, may I ask the noble Earl to explain why an extra £10 million is required? This may not be an extremely large sum in relation to agriculture, but it is nevertheless a lot of money, and I am sure that the noble Earl will be anxious to explain why the Government chose the figure of £180 million.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hoy, is typically and correctly Scottishly prudent. There is a reason. The grant already paid, taking the 1957 and 1967 Schemes together, amounts to £154 million. It is estimated that the outstanding grant liability, after allowing for price rises since applications were approved, is somewhat more than £19 million. The total expenditure would therefore come to something over £173 million. Obviously our estimates cannot be exact, and as we needed to allow for a safety margin and as the limit was £175 million, we thought that it would be prudent to increase the sum.