§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the transfer of milk quota from Scotland to other parts of the United Kingdom; and what effect this will have on the dairy production and processing industries in Scotland.
§ Mr. John MacKay[pursuant to his reply, 5 May 1987]: At 1 April this year 4.425 million litres of wholesale quota, being the required Scottish share (proportionate to production) of the total for Great Britain, was transferred to Northern Ireland. The transfer of quota was effected at the insistence of the European commission to align the treatment of Northern Ireland producers with special needs more closely with that of their counterparts elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The effect is a provisional reduction in wholesale quotas in Scotland of 0.35 per cent., an amount which may be subsequently adjusted depending on the success of an outgoers' scheme which will be opened shortly to try to obtain the quota voluntarily. Compensation at the rate of 27.5p per litre over seven years will be paid. A reduction of about one third of 1 per cent. of wholesale quota will not have any significant effects on the dairy sector in Scotland.