§ Mr. Woodburnasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how often each agricultural advisory committee of those enumerated in his report met in the last 12 months; which of them have now reported; which of these reports have been published; and what has been the outcome of their deliberations.
§ Mr. NobleThe Agricultural Advisory Council and the Agricultural Improvement Council each met once in 1963 as did the Grassland, Field Trials, Horticultural Crops and Animals Committees of the Improvement Council. The Council's Committee on Mastitis did not meet in 1963. The Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee (Scottish Sub-Committee) met twice and the Poultry, Licensing of Bulls and Livestock Records Bureau Advisory Committees each met once. The Potato Trials Advisory Committee met four times and the Winter Keep Consultative Panel met three times. Agricultural Marketing Act and the The Consumers' Committee under the54W Horticultural, Hill Farming, Artificial Insemination and Agricultural Statistics Advisory Committees did not meet last year, but members of this last Committee were consulted individually.
Apart from the Scottish Standing Committee for the Calculation of the Residual Values of Fertilisers and Feedingstuffs which met once last year and whose 15th Annual Report was published on 24th September, 1963, and the Potato Trials Advisory Committee whose report on the year's work will be published shortly, none of these bodies is required to make formal reports. They are standing advisory committees and in carrying out my statutory responsibilities I take full account of the views they express on the matters which are referred to them or come within their terms of reference. An exception is the Committee of Investigation for Scotland under the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1958, which is required to meet only under particular circumstances specified in the Statute.