§ Mr. Hardyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many local authority smallholdings have been let by tender during the last two years; and if he will advise local authorities that this practice may be quite contrary to the original purposes of the scheme.
§ Mr. StrangI regret that my Department does not collect this information.
158WThere is no statutory bar to the use of tenders when statutory smallholdings are let, but tenants must be selected in accordance with the Smallholdings (Selection of Tenants) Regulations 1970 and the rent must be fixed as required by Section 45 of the Agriculture Act 1970.
If my hon. Friend has a particular case in mind and will write to me I will look into it.