§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total amount borrowed by Land Settlement Association tenants from Barclays Bank; and what proportion of this sum is guaranteed by the Government.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe loans advanced by Barclays to individual Land Settlement Association tenants are matters for the parties concerned. None of the loans are guaranteed by the Government.
§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will defer the implementation of his decision to wind up the Land Settlement Association in the light of representations made by many of the tenants and initiate discussions with the objective of achieving a solution to the problems created by the programme which he approved.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr. Nelson) on 19 January. [Vol. 35, c.134.]
§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the total cost of redundancy payments to members of the staff of the Land Settlement Association consequent upon his decision to wind it up; and whether the full liability for these payments will fall upon Votes of his Ministry.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerDiscussions between the Land Settlement Association and its staff on redundancy terms are still proceeding and until they are concluded no firm estimate is possible. The reasonable costs of redundancy resulting from the termination of the scheme will be met by the Vote of my Ministry.
§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the total public money invested in the Land Settlement Association scheme.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe latest accounts published by the Land Settlement Association show the accumalated balance of the Minister's capital account to be £7,354,610 at 31 March 1981.
§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the details of the agency agreement between himself and the Land Settlement Association.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI have arranged for copies of the agency agreement, with supplements, to be made available in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will place in the Library a copy of the report of Mr. Michael Parker on the future of the Land Settlement Association.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerAs is normal in dealings between Ministers and the chairmen of bodies with which they are 341W concerned, I have received Mr. Parker's views on this issue on a number of occasions, both orally and in writing, but no such report exists.