§ Mr. Farrasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will consider making notification compulsory in connection with the Notification of Pesticides Scheme and the Agricultural Chemicals Approval Scheme.
§ Mr. SoamesThe Government accepts the view of the Research Study Group on Toxic Chemicals in Agriculture and Food Storage which confirms that the arrangements made between Government and industry have been generally successful in ensuring the safe use of pesticides. These arrangements, which are kept under constant review, are based on the principle of voluntary cooperation. The Government wishes to keep to this sort of arrangement when it is working satisfactorily in both schemes. At the moment, therefore, I have no plans for making notification compulsory.