§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the agricultural advisory service in Scotland giving the number of advisers in each speciality and in each area of Scotland in 1983 and 1987.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythFollowing the reorganisation of the separate colleges into Scottish agricultural colleges, the structure of the advisory services formerly operated by each college has changed radically. For this reason it is difficult to make direct comparisons. The numbers of field advisers at June 1983 compared with the same month in 1987 are as follows:
1983 1987 East of Scotland College of Agriculture 24 18 North of Scotland College of Agriculture 38 30 West of Scotland Agricultural College 34 21 Totals 96 69 196W
Individual entitlements to housing support grant (prices current at time of payment) Area 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 Scotland 213,400,000 228,200,000 161,900,000 104,632,870 72,135,479 67,211,241 64,178,219 44,469,760 46,489,693 Berwickshire 1,304,502 1,306,875 1,038,356 686,226 648,884 486,805 446,429 201,135 261,235 Ettrick and Lauderdale 1,725,856 1,753,749 1,154,679 552,583 373,420 107,262 0 0 0 Roxburgh 1,734,338 1,971,598 1,537,295 1,165,695 1,260,321 1,265,786 1,306,156 951,730 1,225,127 Tweeddale 289,209 285,768 109,055 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clackmannan 1,850,234 1,818,745 1,283,981 689,627 45,021 0 0 0 0 Falkirk 7,957,349 7,479,143 4,428,554 1,494,309 0 0 0 0 0 Stirling 1,929,781 1,916,151 1,016,562 1,335,195 20,431 0 0 0 0 Annandale and Eskdale 1,094,232 1,452,108 1,272,965 1,387,048 1,574,069 1,673.013 1,759,580 1,382,490 1,432,469 Nithsdale 1,147,826 905,200 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 Stewartry 548,774 676,321 542,539 412,797 414,643 359,095 343,80 253,704 425,965 Wigtown 1,046,584 1,154,830 767,726 452,325 255,317 200,315 95,565 0 321,604 Dunfermline 5,391,353 6,079,270 2,800,067 683,115 0 0 0 0 0 Kirkcaldy 6,303,279 6,500,216 3,077,166 696,260 0 0 0 0 0 North East Fife 1,586,114 1.664,141 979,528 829,197 309,583 87,427 0 0 0 Aberdeen 9,749,391 10,733,105 9,533,966 7,089,761 3,724,702 3,053,523 2,260,303 0 0 Banff and Buchan 4,966,010 5,495,862 4,343,622 3,306,069 2,437,206 1,943,394 1,599,685 558,241 794,646 The numbers of specialist advisers available across the whole of Scotland, by each specialism, are as follows:
Specialist Area 1983 1987 Crops 55 46 Animals 91 68 Mechanisation and buildings 40 33 Soils 16 10 Farm Management 13 11 Economics 38 29 Horticulture 30 22 Veterinary Services 32 21 Totals 315 240 In addition to their specialist advisory work, the College staff also has teaching and R and D responsibilities under the Scottish system.