§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to ensure that returns to the beef producers are 1365WA in line with the Committee of Inquiry of January, 1973, consisting of Mr. James Gulliver, Dame Elizabeth Ackroyd (of the Consumer Council), Mr. Sidney Robinson (of the Monopolies Commission) which recommended a price of £20 a cwt. as being a fair minimum return, when feed prices for livestock were considerably lower than they are to-day.
§ LORD WELLS-PESTELLThe Report on Beef Prices prepared in January, 1973, did not in fact make any recommendation concerning returns to producers; it merely referred to information given to the members on the subject of returns to beef fatteners.
The Minister of Agriculture has recently announced additional subsidies for the beef sector totalling £38 million in a full year. These further subsidies will encourage the rearing of calves for a further expansion of beef production and help to keep beef prices for consumers stable.
§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYasked Her Majesty's Government:
What relevance the guide price and its recent increase of 6.3 per cent. has for beef producers, now that the Minister of Agriculture has indicated that he may not buy into Intervention at a figure related to the guide price, and what is the minimum price per cwt. in sterling that this increased guide price would allow the United Kingdom to import from—
- 1. Germany;
- 2. Eire.
§ LORD WELLS-PESTELLThe cattle prices set for the United Kingdom determine the level at which levies may be charged on imports from third countries and the size of the compensatory amounts which apply in trade between the United Kingdom and other member states.
There is no minimum price at which imports may come to the United Kingdom from other Member States.
§ LORD HYLTONasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they appreciate the consequences of the fact that producers of fat cattle in Britain now have neither a guaranteed price nor a system of intervention buying; and when they 1366WA will announce measures to restore long-term confidence among producers who have not been greatly impressed by increases in the guide price and in calf subsidies.
§ LORD WELLS-PESTELLMy right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture is aware of the concern of producers about market prospects for beef. The measures taken recently to increase the calf subsidy by more than 100 per cent. and the special measures to protect the beef industry in Northern Ireland will bring the total direct subsidies to United Kingdom beef production to about £100 million a year. The increased incentives to rear calves should reduce the rate of calf slaughterings and encourage the future expansion of beef production.