§ Mr. Torneyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will announce his proposals for the introduction of production grants under Article 12 of Directive (EEC) 72/159.
§ Mr. BishopGrants under this article are designed to encourage the formation of production groups by contributing towards formation and management costs and we propose introducing these from 1st January 1975. Similar grants are already available to co-operatives through the medium of the Agricultural and Horticultural Co-operation Scheme 1971508W and this will be the statutory authority for the additional grants. We will continue to use the Central Council for Agricultural and Horticultural Co-operation as our agent for handling applications.