§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give a breakdown, by profession and qualification, of the members of the agriculture working party on the revised potato marketing scheme; and how many members of the working party are currently and actively engaged in potato production.
§ Mr. JoplingI shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will enumerate the full-time employees of the Potato Marketing Board.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe most recently published annual report and accounts of the Potato Marketing Board records that permanent staff employed in the board's headquarters, divisional and area offices at 30 June 1983 numbered 462.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much of the £7.1 million paid by the Government to the Potato Marketing Board last year was spent on support buying; and how the balance was distributed.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Government made a loan of £5.9 million to the Potato Marketing Board to enable it to meet the cost of market support operations in respect of the 1982 maincrop. In addition, the Government contributed some £1.6 million in 1983–84 towards the Board's administrative expenditure incurred in furtherance of the guarantee arrangements in Great Britain.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total tonnage of United Kingdom seed potatoes exported (i) to France and (ii) to Holland in each of the past four years.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information requested, prepared on a calendar year basis, is as follows:
France Netherlands Tonnes 1980 54 44 1981 62 1 1982 81 75 1983 93 235 Source: HM Customs and Excise.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the role planned by the Potato Marketing Board in the Food From Britain Campaign.
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§ Mr. MacGregorThis is a matter for the Potato Marketing Board and Food From Britain to determine. Potatoes are however a priority product in Food From Britain's operating plan for the home market and I know that the board is working closely with Food From Britain to ensure that activities are complementary and, with other organisations, is examining ways of co-ordinating the purchase of common services such as research and publicity.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the tonnage of potatoes for human consumption marketed by the Potato Marketing Board in the past 10 years; and what percentage of total consumption this represents.
§ Mr. MacGregorThis is a matter for the Potato Marketing Board, which has informed me that its purchase and sales operations are mainly confined to its market support functions involving the diversion of potatoes from human consumption into stockfeed.
The board also performs a limited marketing operation through its experimental station at Sutton Bridge.
The total quantity of potatoes marketed by the board for human consumption over the past 10 years has amounted to about 367,000 tonnes representing less than 1 per cent. of total human consumption in Great Britain.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the object of United Kingdom potato acreage restriction.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Potato Marketing Board operates its quota arrangements in order to seek to influence the level of plantings by registered producers in the interests of orderly marketing. The arrangements are intended to benefit producers and consumers alike by keeping supply and demand as far as possible in balance, thereby giving producers a reasonable return on their crop and consumers access to supplies at reasonable prices.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if there is any control over the quantity of imports of potatoes for human consumption from countries outside the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. MacGregorImports of potatoes into the United Kingdom are not subject to restriction other than on plant health grounds. However, for early potatoes, where our season is relatively short and prices are highly volatile, the Government engage in regular consultations with the major exporting countries about adapting the volume, quality and timing of their supplies to the varying needs of the United Kingdom market.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what have been the percentage increases in the imports of potatoes and raw equivalents from European Economic Community countries in the three years since 1979; and how these compare with the previous three years.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information given below shows the percentage change on the previous calendar year in the volume of new, raw and processed potatoes imported for human consumption from European Community countries. The figures prior to 1981 include Greece, which was not then a member of the Community
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Year Percentage 1976 +33 1977 -52 1978 -14 1979 +26 1980 + 9 1981 +68 1982 +84 Source: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.
§ Mr. Galeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the volume of imported ware potatoes and processed potatoes is taken into account when fixing United Kingdom target acreage for home production.
1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Imports Ware -38 +8,266 +105 -42 -94 +239 +103 +42 +103 -54 Processed -17 +2 +285 -35 -46 +10 +1 +20 +93 +16 Total -18 +182 +169 -38 -68 +31 +25 +28 +97 +15 Exports Ware -54 -36 -98 -839 +212 +10 +52 +11 -18 -2 Processed +56 -36 +33 -7 +212 +16 -37 -10 +10 +19 Total -45 -36 -66 +36 +212 +14 -7 +2 -7 +8 Source: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.