§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the amount of cash to be used by Her Majesty's Government from their own resources on the disposal and destruction of food in the current year; and what were the comparable figures in each of the previous five years.
§ Mr. MacGregorExpenditure in the United Kingdom on disposal and destruction of food1 is as follows:
Year £ million 1988–89 702 1987–88 694 1986–87 867 1985–86 650 1984–85 725 1983–84 657 Note 1Comprises export refunds (net of MCAs), subsidies for internal disposals, losses on sale out of intervention and depreciation of stocks.
This expenditure is reimbursed from the Community budget to which the United Kingdom is a net contributor. The Exchequer therefore funds all the United Kingdom's disposal costs and a proportion of those in other member states.