§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the storage capacity currently owned and rented by the Intervention Board; what public expenditure has been incurred to date in renting and purchase respectively; and what are the plans for further renting and acquisition during the year in prospect.
§ Mr. GodberThe Intervention Board does not own any stores.
The butter and skimmed milk powder put into store for intervention is held in privately-owned stores and warehouses 200W at a cost to date of £73,000. Most of this expenditure is recoverable from Community funds.
For cereals, the board reserved a maximum of 146,600 tons of specialised capacity in advance of the present season, as an insurance against a marginal intervention situation, at a cost so far of £134,375. The arrangements for safeguarding an intervention situation on cereals in future years are now being reviewed.