§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give details of the latest estimate he has made of expenditure in 1977–78 by the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce under Common Market organisations of the EEC, together with comparable figures for the preceding year.
§ Mr. John SilkinFollowing are details of the latest estimates for the financial year 1977–78, together with comparable figures for the outturn in the financial year 1976–77:
EXPENDITURE BY THE INTERVENTION BOARD FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE £ million Latest estimate of Outturn 1977–78 Actual Outturn 1976–77 Cereals 4.8 29.8 Beef and veal 9.4 16.3 Pigmeat 0.4 12.3 Sugar 89.2 71.2 Herbage and field bean seeds 1.4 1.2 Hops 0.5 1.1 Processed products 17.0 8.8 Milk products 74.6 24.1 Others 6.6 6.6 Total 203.9 171.4 Expenditure by the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce includes the beef variable premium scheme, refunds on imports and exports, certain production subsidies, aids for private storage and animal feed and the net cost of intervention buying. Of the estimated outturn for 1977–78, £146.5 million is expected to be financed from the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), the balance being financed from Exchequer funds; in 1976–77 £168.7 million was financed from EAGGF. Some of the expenditure shown above benefits consumers and overseas exporting interests rather than United Kingdom producers.
The increase in expenditure in 1977–78 compared with the previous year is mainly due to increased purchases into intervention of butter and skimmed milk powder. These purchases, which are initially financed by the Exchequer, also account for the lower ratio, compared 25W with expenditure, of the EAGGF receipts in 1977–78.
The consumer butter subsidy, which is paid through the Intervention Board, is not included in the above table.