§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give figures for redundancies in Ayrshire for each month since May 1979.
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the number of workers involved in redundancies of 10 or more notified to them as due to have occurred in Ayrshire since May 1979 was as follows:
452W
Month Employees 1979 May 21 June 575 July 239 August 1,040
§ Mr. Younger[pursuant to his reply. 31 October 1980, c. 378]: I do not believe that lowering the intervention quality standards would improve producer returns significantly in the present market circumstances, and I have no plans at present to make changes. The categories and prices of beef which may be bought by intervention agencies are specified by EEC Commission regulation. The quality standards within these categories are left to individual member States to define.