§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what records are retained by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the purchase of farm property in Scotland by institutional pension funds; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. YoungerThe Northfield committee of inquiry into the acquisition and occupancy of agricultural land saw no case for restricting financial institutions' activities in land purchase on the ground that these were forcing up the general level of land prices. The committee did, however, recommend that financial institutions' acquisitions should be closely monitored, and since the committee reported in 1979 the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland has maintained records of such acquisitions, including those by pension funds. It is clearly too soon to establish any trend since the Northfield report, but information about sales reported in 1980 shows that financial institutions purchased approximately 13,000 hectares of agricultural land in Scotland at a cost of £10.7 million; this included 4,700 hectares purchased at a cost of £6.8 million by pension funds. This represents only a small proportion of all purchases of agricultural land.