§ Mr. Hurdasked the Minister of Agriculture the amount of assistance to farmers provided under the Goods and Services Scheme in each of the past three years; and the cost of administering the scheme.
Mr. T. WilliamsGoods and services invoiced to farmers in England and Wales under the scheme totalled approximately £20¼ million in 1946–47, £19½ million in 1947–48 and £12 million in 1948–49. These sums are virtually all recovered from the recipients of the goods and services concerned. Certain losses have, however, been incurred on committee trading services—in general, because services were not invoiced at full cost. It is not possible to estimate the separate cost of administration of the scheme but the total cost of administration of the above trading services by the county agricultural executive committees amounted in 1948–49 to approximately £1.7 million. No corresponding estimate for earlier years is available.