§ Mr. ColvinTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the accuracy of his Ministry's milk production figures; what is the current year's national milk quota; and what assessment he has made of how close to the target the level of United Kingdom milk production will be. [27705]
§ Mr. RookerThe wholesale milk production figures are compiled by the Intervention Board using returns submitted by approved purchasers of milk. Adjustments are regularly submitted by those purchasers throughout the year, in an attempt to maintain as accurate a figure as possible. The figures are supplied as a guide as to how the UK's milk production is measuring against quota. The Intervention Board is wholly reliant on purchasers to provide accurate production figures in order to compile their production statistics.
439WDirect sales are not monitored against quota during the quota year.
As at February 1998 the national milk quota for the 1997–98 quota year (including quota in the National Reserve) stood at:
- Wholesale: 13,936.2 million litres
- Direct sales quota: 229.3 million litres.
The production figures to the end of January 1998 show butterfat adjusted delivery figures running 110.74 million litres ahead of the quota profile for the period April 1997 to January 1998. It is not possible to make a reasoned assessment of UK production against quota until after the current quota year has ended on 31 March 1998.