§ Mr. Willeyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to ensure that the reduction of the grant in aid of current expenditure to the National Institute of Agricultural Botany does not prejudice the certification of seed for export or the improvement in quality of root and vegetable seeds.
§ Mr. MackieMy right hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey) is misinformed. It is not intended to reduce the total grant-in-aid of the current expenditure of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany.
The Institute operates four schemes for the certification of root and vegetable seeds. For some years these schemes have run at a substantial loss, the income from fees covering only about 10 per cent. of the cost. In an effort to place this work on a self-supporting basis the Institute recently decided to re-organise 308W the schemes and to unify them into a single scheme. It is hoped thereby to achieve useful economies without damaging the effectiveness of the work. It has also been decided that there should be a remission of charges for the certification of seed lots destined for export, so that there may be no question of the level of fees adversely affecting this important section of the seed trade.