§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the total amount spent under the European Economic Community budget on supporting agriculture in 1983; how much was spent by the member states in the latest year for which figures are available in each case; how this compares with the amount spent in the United States of America; what is the volume of cereals and dairy products in each case; and approximately what proportion of the amount spent in the European Economic Community and the United States of America was devoted to reducing production.
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§ Mr. MacGregorExpenditure on the common agricultural policy in 1983 totalled approximately 16,700 million ecu (£9,800 million). Information on expenditure by other member states is not available on an up-to-date and consistent basis as the latest figures published by the Commission relate to 1977. I understand that the provision for federal expenditure in the United States of America on agricultural market support for the year ending 30 September 1983 was 18.9 billion dollars. Provisional estimates of the volume of cereals and milk produced in the European Community and the United States of America in 1983 are as follows:
Million tonnes European Community United States of America Cereals 123.5 204 Milk 111.4 63 Expenditure in 1983 on European Community measures specifically designed to reduce production of milk and wine totalled approximately 181 million ecu (£106 million). For all commodities, however, production is influenced by many factors including the levels of support fixed by the Community. I understand that expenditure in the United States of America in the year to 30 September 1983 on the payment-in-kind programme, which is designed to reduce the volume of products marketed, totalled 9.4 billion dollars.
§ Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will list, year by year, since the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community, all changes in the green pound and monetary compensatory amounts.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe following table shows the level of the green pound since the United Kingdom joined the European Community.
Date* Rate Percentage change 1 February 1973 1 ua=£0.462022 — 7 October 1974 1 ua=£0.498679 -7.4 3 March 1975 1 ua=£0.509741 -2.2 4 August 1975 1 ua=£0.536570 -5.0 27 October 1975 1 ua=£0.569606 -5.8 1 May 1977† 1 ua=£0.586638 -2.9 16 September 1977‡ 1 ua=£0.577991 -1.5 2 February 1978 1 ua=£0.634204 -7.5 ║ 1 ua=£0.617513 -5.0 9 April 1979 1 ECU=£0.552199 -5.0 1 July 1979 1 ECU=£0.581264 -5.0 1 October 1979 1 ECU=£0.587724 -1.1 16 December 1979 1 ECU=£0.618655 -5.0 ua=Unit of account. ECU=European currency unit (at the time of the adoption of the European monetary system an ECU was equal to 1.208953 uas). * Date of first application; date of application in particular sectors may be later. † All commodities except milk. ‡ Milk only. ║ Pigmeat and beef only. The United Kingdom MCA is normally calculated, and may therefore vary, on a weekly basis. Furthermore, where the introduction of a new green rate is phased according to the start of each commodity marketing year there may be more than one MCA percentage in any week. The table gives the range of MCAs percentages which applied in each year since the United Kingdom joined the European Community.
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Year Range 1973 -2.0 to -19.2 1974 -6.1 to -17.4 1975 -6.4 to -20.6 1976 -6.4 to -45.0 1977 -28.9 to -40.3 1978 -22.6 to -39.9 1979 -1.6 to -28.2 1980 -9.0 to +12.1 1981 +1.9 to +18.2 1982 +3.5 to +18.2 1983 -1.1 to +7.9 1984* +3.7 to +7.6 * January to March.