§ Miss Maynardasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will specify the breeds of birds, types of systems and size of units included in the production cost data study by the Agricultural 19W Development and Advisory Service in its review of production costs between extreme and other egg production systems; what is the period covered by the data; and when and in what form the results of the study will be published.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerIn carrying out the study of cost differences in commercial egg production, the Ministry's agricultural development and advisory service covered four production methods—battery cages at three stocking densities, deep litter, straw yard and free range. Each system covered 10,000 bird units. No specific breeds of birds were used. The comparisons were based on costs in the 1979–80 financial year. The information was made available to the House of Commons Select Committee on Agriculture on 15 January 1981 and will be published later this year.