§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for England and Wales, respectively, the amount of aid distributed to hill farmers under various categories in 1970 and in each of the past three years directly from the United Kingdom Budget and from the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerExpenditure in special areas of England and Wales in 1970–71 and in 1978–79 to 1980–81 is shown in the following table. All payments are made initially from United Kingdom funds, but the European Community subsequently reimburses 25 per cent. of 307W eligible expenditure on hill livestock compensatory allowances, the farm and horticultural development scheme and forage groups.
£ million 1970–71 1978–79‡ 1979–80‡ 1980–81 Hill cattle 5.4 — — — Hill sheep 5.1 — — — Winter keep 2.2 — — — Hill land improvement 1.5 — — — Hill livestock compensatory allowances — 17.0 49.6 47.1 Additional benefit under capital grant schemes* — 2.7 5.6 9.2 Other† 0.2 … … … Total 14.4 19.8 55.2 56.4 * Enhanced rates for less favoured areas under the farm and horticultural development scheme and the farm capital grant scheme. † Covers livestock rearing land improvement, rural roads and forage groups; may include some expenditure in Northern Ireland in 1970–71. ‡ Because of an industrial dispute some payments which would normally have been made in 1978–79 were delayed until 1979–80.