§ Lord Skelmersdaleasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why the maximum levy on sheep and bovine animals slaughtered in (or sent out of) Northern Ireland as permitted under the Livestock Marketing Commission Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 was not increased in either the 1980s or 1990s, so resulting in 65WA the large percentage increase in the Livestock and Meat Commission (Maximum Levy) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (SR 2003/20). [HL1874]
§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn)The actual rates of levy payable to the Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland (LMC) were last revised in October 1988 when they rose from 45p to 80p per bovine (ie cattle) and from 4p to 8p per ovine (ie sheep). These amounts fell within the ceilings of £1 per bovine and 10p per sheep detailed in the Livestock Marketing Commission (Maximum Levy) Regulations (NI) 1976 (SR 184).
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, finance surpluses were built up in the LMC from both levy income and the activities the commission carried out on behalf of the then Intervention Board (now Rural Payments Agency). This revenue was used to avoid the need for levy increases and to fund additional LMC activities necessary, post the 1996 BSE crisis, to support and communicate with consumers in Northern Ireland and Great Britain, given the critical need to expand beef sales in those marketplaces. However, it was considered that these surpluses would become exhausted by the end of March 2002 and consequently an increase in levy income was necessary in order for the LMC to maintain its activities at anything approaching existing levels.
Formal consultation with the industry was completed in March 2002, with general acceptance of proposals to increase the existing producer levies for cattle and sheep and to make statutory the voluntary processor slaughter levies for cattle and sheep. New legislation to give effect to these proposals came into operation at the end of February this year.
The Livestock and Meat Commission (Maximum Levy) Regulations (NI) 2003 (SR No. 20), which came into operation on 27 February 2003, set new ceiling amounts for each levy rate (ie £6 per bovine and £1 per ovine) which are well above the new combined actual 66WA rates of levy payable detailed within the Livestock and Meat Commission (Levy) (No. 2) Regulations (NI) 2003 (SR No. 104), which came into operation on 28 February 2003, ie £2 per bovine (£1 from producer and £1 from processor) and 30p per ovine (20p from producer and 10p from processor). The LMC had, however, also initially sought to introduce a transaction levy, to be payable on every animal movement, in order to spread the payment of levy across the industry rather than just on the finishers. The ceiling amounts in the maximum levy regulations were set sufficiently high to collect transaction levy and also to ensure that any future increases could be introduced with the minimum of legislative change. It should be noted, however, that the proposal for a transaction levy has not yet been progressed as lawyers considered that the powers within the primary legislation, the Livestock Marketing Commission Act (NI) 1967, as amended, were not sufficient to enable the introduction of such a levy. The proposal for a transaction levy is being considered further by the department.