§ 28. Mr. Knoxasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on progress made on the outgoers scheme for dairy farmers.
§ Mr. JoplingSince we re-opened the outgoers scheme on 10 June, 102 producers have expressed an interest in participating. Not all of these will necessarily decide in the end to go out of milk production, but 30, with 9 million litres of quota, have applied to become outgoers. Of these, two have already ceased production and the remainder are being invited to join the scheme. This is in addition to some 265 million litres of quota which have already been committed under the scheme in England and Wales. Additional participants will be accepted into the scheme on a first come-first served basis until the target of 289 million litres has been reached.