HL Deb 04 December 1972 vol 337 cc7-8
THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

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 whether, in informing Parliament of the terms of the provisional agreement on dairy product prices reached with other E.E.C. countries, and of the system now proposed in E.E.C. for fixing fruit and vegetable prices, they will publish a summary text in Hansard.

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, the provisional agreement on transitional measures for milk and milk products was described by my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in another place on November 27. As his statement was long and detailed, it will be reproduced in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

The Community has agreed to amendments to the main regulation of fruit and vegetables but some details remain to be settled.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that reply, delivered with the charm with which we are familiar, may I ask her whether arrangements can be made so that when agreements of this general character are reached, or proposed, we may be told about them without the need to put down a Parliamentary Question? Would she bear in mind that this is really the tip of an iceberg of a serious general problem?

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, I perfectly understand what my noble friend has in mind. Perhaps I should say that the arrangements to which his Question refers have only been provisionally agreed by the Ministers of the enlarged Community and they will be contained in Instruments. At the moment, of course, there are no texts to put before the House.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

My Lords, I should like to ask a further supplementary question. Will the arrangements be contained in Instruments that will come eventually before this House?

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

Yes, my Lords, I believe so. As I understand it, the suggestion put forward by an ad hoc Committee as to ways in which Parliament should examine draft Instruments is still the subject of consultation through the usual channels.

Following is the statement made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food [Official Report, Commons, 27/11/72, cols, 33–34] and referred to by Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie: On 21st November the Council of Ministers (Agriculture) reached a provisional agreement on transitional measures for milk and milk products, which will be finalised when agreement is also reached on satisfactory provisions to implement the Protocol on New Zealand butter and cheese, and on the intervention arrangements for butter of the type normally manufactured in the United Kingdom (i.e. salted sweet cream butter of 80 per cent. fat content). The agreement provides for an intervention price in the United Kingdom for butter of 82 per cent. fat content of about £357 per ton on 1st February (rising to at least £428 on 1st April). The intervention price for skimmed milk powder would be at the same level as in the original Community, i.e., about £229 per ton. The compensatory amounts for the other main milk products are derived from those for butter and skimmed milk powder. Conmpensatory amounts for milk for liquid consumption and for fresh cream for direct consumption are established on the basis of the difference between our market prices and those of the original Community. The main implications for the United Kingdom are that on this basis there should be no reasons for increases in the average wholesale and retail prices of butter and cheese over the next few months; and that for United Kingdom producers there would be continuing safeguards for the liquid milk market and, for the first time, guaranteed minimum prices available in the milk products sector. It is understood that these arrangements are subject to appropriate adjustments in the event of a change in the sterling parity. The agreement is in my view a satisfactory one for the United Kingdom.