§ Mr. MacFarquharasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give further details of the arrangements for the new variable premium scheme for beef; and what are the target prices for the period from 18th November 1974 to 31st January 1975.
§ Mr. PeartThe target prices for the United Kingdom are as follows:
Week beginning £ 1974 18th November … 18.00 25th November … 18.45 2nd December … 18.90 9th December … 19.35 16th December … 19.80 23rd December … 20.30 30th December … 20.30 1975 6th January … 20.80 13th January … 21.30 20th January … 21.81 27th January (until 31/1/75) … 21.81 Payments will be made in respect of cattle which meet the standards of the 203W beef premium scheme and the same certification and administrative procedures will be used. Unlike the headage payment made under the beef premium scheme, the variable premium will be paid on the basis of weight. First payments of the variable premium will be made in mid-December. The rate of payment in Northern Ireland will be greater than the rate of payment in other regions of the United Kingdom by a maximum of 70p per live cwt to make allowance for differences in market prices, taking into account transport and related costs.
The terms of the scheme require that beef exported from the United Kingdom will be subject to an export charge whose level will be derived from the level of variable premium. Responsibility for administering the scheme will lie with the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce which will publish weekly the levels of variable premia and export charges.