§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the cost of support to United Kingdom agriculture directly and indirectly in the current year; and what was the comparable average figure for the years 1967 to 1970.
§ Mr. JoplingTotal provision, net of receipts, for expenditure by the three agricultural Departments and the intervention board for agricultural produce on agriculture, fisheries and food, including land drainage and flood protection and agency services provided by other public bodies, in 1986–87 is:
£ million Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 504 Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland 130 Welsh Office 43 Intervention Board for Agricultural produce 375 Total 1,052 Outturn figures for the financial years 1967–68 to 1970–71 are set out in the table:
£ million 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food* 315 304 312 343 Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland 59 59 62 67 Total 374 363 374 410 * includes Wales.