§ Mr. Michael Heseltineasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in view of the recommendations of the South-West Economic Planning Council appointed by the Government in 1965 on the importance of keeping abreast of marketing and production trends in France, what progress is being made on the economic and technical investigation of recent developments in Brittany and in other regions of France which are likely to compete in the British market with products like cauliflowers, strawberries, apples and pears, as referred to in paragraph 440 of the Council's recent report.
§ Mr. HoyThe Department keeps in touch generally with technical and economic developments in countries which export horticultural produce to the United Kingdom. The specific investigation referred to was commissioned by the Council itself and I understand that a report will be published in the autumn. A horticultural adviser from the Ministry's South-West Region and two members of the Provincial Agricultural Economics Service were included in a party which visited France in March, 1967 and this Ministry met part of the cost.