§ Mr. William Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish in the Official Report details of the calculations used by Her Majesty's Government to determine the milk quota for Northern Ireland; and how these differ from the calculations produced by the Milk Marketing Board in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. Beggsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1)if he will set out details of the method by which the Northern Ireland milk quota has been calculated;
(2)if he will make a statement on the Northern Ireland special milk allocation of 63.1258 million litres, its absorption into the United Kingdom milk quota and regional distribution within the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. ButlerIn allocating the United Kingdom quota between regions account was taken of the trend of deliveries between 1981 and 1983. Northern Ireland was given the full benefit of the 63.1 million litres from the Community reserve. In addition, a further allocation was made to Northern Ireland so that its reduction on 1983 deliveries would be no more than in other regions of the United Kingdom. This gave Northern Ireland a quota for 1984–85 of 1,321 million litres, aproximately 2.5 per cent. greater than total output in 1982. The Milk Marketing Board for Northern Ireland has made some calculations to show the effect of dividing the basic United Kingdom quota among regions on the proportions of milk produced in 1983.