§ Sir W. Bromley-Davenportasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the proportion the skim milk which may be wasted during the five or six weeks' peak production this year bears to the total amount of skim milk which is now processed annually in this country.
Mr. VaneIt is extremely difficult for the Milk Marketing Board to estimate how much skim milk, if any, it may not be possible to put to use this year. The best forecast that they can make is about 250,000 gallons. This would represent 0.1 per cent. of the skim milk processed in 1961 in England and Wales.
§ Sir W. Bromley-Davenportasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent, in considering whether to allow imports of milk products, he takes into account the possible wastage of skim milk which occurs during a short period of peak production.
Mr. VaneThe import of milk products is not influenced by the possibility of a temporary seasonal surplus production of skim milk. Whatever the level of imports, the problem would remain of coping with skim milk which may be surplus to manufacturing capacity in the areas concerned, during the short period of peak production.
§ Mr. G. M. Thomsonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consideration is being given by Her Majesty's Government to the offer made to them by private industry to assist in processing the country's surplus skim milk supplies with a view to making them available to underdeveloped countries.
Mr. VaneI know of no such offer to Her Majesty's Government. I understand that the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief has discussed with the Milk Marketing Board the possibility of transporting skim milk to Northern Ireland for processing. But in view of the very high transport costs and the technical difficulties that would be involved it has been agreed, very reluctantly, that the operation would not be justified.