§ Mr. Philip Hollandasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last carried out an overall review of the need for retaining unchanged the advisory committee on the banana trade; whether he considered alternative privately funded sources of advice; and what conclusions he reached.
§ Mrs. FennerImport arrangements for bananas, including the role of the banana trade advisory committee, are reviewed annually. The committee's non-Civil Service representatives pay their own expenses and any alternative system is likely to be more cumbersome and expensive in the use of official manpower. The Committee's advice is necessary to enable the United Kingdom to operate its banana import policy in fulfilment of obligations to traditional banana producers under the EEC-ACP convention of Lomé.