Lord Chelwoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they will present to Parliament a White Paper on agriculture, since many of the assumptions and conclusions of Cmnd. 6020 and Cmnd. 7458 have been overtaken by events; and which basic food supplies they still wish to see produced in larger quantities at home; and
Whether they will publish a table, similar to that on page 15 of Cmnd. 7458 (1979) for the latest crop year and calendar year for which figures are available; and in which commodities that were in surplus in 1977 (or are estimated to be in surplus in 1983) it remains their policy to encourage higher production in the United Kingdom or in the European Community
§ Lord Belsteadthe Government have no present plans to publish further White Papers of this kind, but the economic conditions and progress of the industry are examined each year during the annual review of agriculture. The supply tables in the White Paper published after these reviews show the proportion of the total supply of each of the principal temperate commodities produced in the United Kingdom. More up-to-date estimates will he made during the current Annual Review of Agriculture. It is our policy to encourage an expansion in production in the United Kingdom of those commodities for which it is economically sensible so to do.