§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Housing and Local and Minister for Welsh Affairs why he replied to 13 individual constituency protests about rating, sent to him by the hon. Member for Arundel and Shoreham, with one letter and copy only, dated 16th May, 1963; if he will in future reply individually to each constituency rating case raised with him by hon. Members; and if, in view of the seriousness of all new rating protests, he will instruct his Department to draft his reply in under the five weeks taken in most of these 13 cases in question.
§ Sir K. JosephI regret if the comprehensive reply to the 13 letters caused any difficulty to my hon. and gallant
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I.—FARMING GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES 1962–63 1961–62 £ million 1. General Fertilisers Subsidy … … … 33.9 33.0 2. Lime Subsidy … … … 10.0 8.8 3. Grants for Ploughing up Grassland … … … 11.3 11.5 4. Field Drainage and Water Supply Grants … … … 3.9 3.5 5. Grants for Improvement of Livestock Rearing Land … … … 1.5 1.6 6. Marginal Production Assistance Grants … … … 0.7 0.8 7. Bonus Payments under the Tuberculosis (Attested Herds) Scheme … 5.2 7.2 8. Calf Subsidy … … … 17.7 17.8 9. Hill Sheep and Hill Cattle … … … 6.8 5.8 10. Silo Subsidies … … … 0.6 0.8 11. Grants for Farm Improvements … … … 10.3 9.2 12. Grants to Rabbit Clearance Societies … … … 0.3 0.3 13. Grants to Small Farmers … … … 7.2 7.1 14. Other Grants … … … 0.1 0.1 TOTAL I … … … 109.5 107.5 Friend. But, as he knows, correspondence on the subject of rates has been exceptionally heavy, and has tended to repeat itself; from nowhere more so than from his constituency. A single letter in reply to the 13 had the merit of reducing the amount of work entailed in individual replies, and so speeding up the handling of correspondence from all other hon. Members as well as that from my hon. and gallant Friend.