§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will set out the statistical basis for the statement made in the House of Lords on 14 May by the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: "We subsidise every cow in Europe to the tune of two dollars a day" (HL Deb, col. 291); whether this figure also applies to the United Kingdom; if not, what would be the appropriate figure for the United Kingdom; and whether they will set out the statistical basis for the figure which does apply to the United Kingdom. [HL2980]
§ Lord Whitty:The quoted figure is based on the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Producer Support Estimate (PSE) for 2000 of 16.8 billion US dollars for the dairy sector. In 2000 there were estimated to be 20.7 million dairy cows suggesting support in 2000 of 2.22 or 2.04 US dollars per cow per day.
The PSE is an internationally respected measure of the annual monetary value of gross transfer at the farm gate from consumers (through prices higher than world levels) and taxpayers (through direct support) arising from policy measures that support agricultural production.
Using the same methodology, but looking at the UK in 2000 suggests a support figure per dairy cow of around 1.60 US dollars. This lower UK figure is a consequence of particularly low prices in the UK compared with the EU as a whole in 2000, following a sharp appreciation of sterling against the euro.