HC Deb 30 November 1966 vol 737 cc102-3W
Mr. Jopling

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from where the money will come to give preferential treatment to farmers who have sold fat cattle during the present slump in beef prices; whether these payments will constitute new money awarded since the last Price Review or whether farmers who have held their cattle off the market during the low price period will now get a smaller end-of-year payment than they might have expected under the original Price Review arrangements.

Mr. Peart

If, over a fatstock year, the amount of abatements under the graduated deficiency payments arrangements exceeds that of supplements, a payment equal to the difference is made after the end of the year. No new money is involved, since any such payment falls to be made in accordance with the determinations made at the relevant Annual Review. I expect there to be such a payment for the present fatstock year, and I have decided, in making it, to give preferential treatment to those producers who sold fat cattle during the period of market depression through which we are passing. To the extent that they get a bigger share of the total amount to be paid, other producers will get less than they would have got had payment been at

FARM IMPROVEMENT SCHEME—SCOTLAND

GRANTS PAID 1960–1965
Description of Items 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
£ £ £ £ £ £
1 Erection, alteration, etc., of farm buildings (other than dwelling-houses); making or improvement of permanent yards, loading banks and stocks 640,963 942,808 1,026,564 1,194,576 1,307,153 1,381,273
2. Sewage disposal (other than from dwelling-houses) 787 706 1,936 802 2,472 2,113
3. Roads, fords, bridges, railway crossings and creeps 44,747 60,933 50,503 46,222 55,164 55,589
4. Electric light or power for agricultural purposes 47,419 40,310 32,362 35,732 34,875 31,694
5. Sheep and cattle pens 4,865 4,630 6,763 3,975 5,440 6,439
6. Permanent fences (including hedges), walls and gates 83,712 108,092 108,444 119,602 128,834 127,563
7. Cattle grids 968 1,867 1,850 1,509 1,209 1,249
8. Reclamation of waste land 4,591 11,670 4,678 10,294 11,014 7,839
9. Shelter belts 1,033 734 651 673 2,843 1,178
10. Removal of obstructions to cultivation 2,599 4,076 3,755 4,170 7,554 5,042
11. Claying and marling 80 — — — — —
Totals 831,764 1,175,826 1,237,506 1,417,555 1,556,558 1,619,979