§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will be in a position to give details of the form which a super levy on dairy producers will take and as to whether quotas can be sold to other producers.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe arrangements for the payment of milk supplementary levy and for the transfer of quota are set out in Regulations EC Nos. 856/84, 857/84, 1371/84 and 1955/84 and in the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 1984 (SI 1984 No. 1047).
Liability for levy payment on wholesale deliveries arises only when deliveries to purchasers of milk (in Scotland the three Milk Marketing Boards and Freefield Dairy, Shetland) exceed the total of quotas issued to producers in their collection areas. Deliveries so far are within these totals and it remains to be seen whether any levy will be due at 31 March 1985. In the event of a purchaser quota being exceeded, the legislation provides that the liability for levy due should fall on those producers who have contributed to the excess by producing over their 499W individual quotas. Producers who have direct sales quotas are liable to levy on an individual basis should they exceed their quotas.
The present Community legislation ties quota firmly to the land. A quota may not therefore be sold but may only be used by whoever occupies the land to which it is attached. The Government recognise the problems which the present arrangements may cause and have initiated consultations with interested parties to ascertain whether, and if so what, changes to Community rules need be sought.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many claims for secondary quotas have been submitted to tribunals; and how many have been reduced on the grounds that the present sales are unattainable because there is no evidence from historic yields to suggest that the present yield can be achieved.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe tribunal considered 1,394 claims for additional quota on grounds of investments made to increase milk production in the quota year 1984–85. After assessing all the information relating to historic performance, the tribunal judged that in 291 of these cases the claimed yield was unattainable.