§ 2.51 p.m.
§ Baroness ELLIOT of HARWOODMy 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 they are satisfied that satisfactory progress has been achieved in submitting United Kingdom programmes for EEC approval under Regulation 355/77, and what programmes have been or are being so submitted.
The MINISTER of STATE, MINISTRY of AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES and FOOD (Earl Ferrers)My Lords, eight programmes have been submitted. One is a regional programme for Northern Ireland. Then there is a programme covering crops, another for livestock and another for fisheries, all of which are for Scotland. Then there is a programme for milk, another for potatoes and another for horticulture, all of which are for England and Wales. There is also a redmeat slaughterhouse programme which covers the whole of the United Kingdom.
Of the eight programmes which have been submitted, three have received approval in Brussels. These are the 332 programmes for crops and livestock in Scotland and the United Kingdom red-meat slaughterhouse programme. Five further programmes are in the course of preparation, of which four relate to England and Wales and cover pigmeat, fisheries, cereals and seeds. The fifth is a livestock programme and relates to Wales.
§ Baroness ELLIOT of HARWOODMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Earl very much for his most encouraging Answer. As this is one of the ways in which we can get some money back from the EEC, I hope the Government will encourage as many people as possible to use this money in order to improve their equipment and so on, with a view to selling more of our produce abroad.
Earl FERRERSMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that observation. She may like to know that in fact, of all the Members of the European Economic Community, the United Kingdom has submitted more projects than anyone else and has received more approvals than any other Member State.