§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslopasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the minimum period for which part or the whole of a dairy farm, with its appropriate proportion of the farm's milk quota, can be leased or rented to a third party, and then, at the termination of that lease, recovered by the lessor or landlord with its milk quota still intact.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe dairy produce quotas regulations (DI 1984/1047) specify no minimum period for a lease of the whole or part of a dairy holding with quota. However no quota is tranferred when a "minor change of occupation" takes place. A "minor change of occupation" is defined in the regulations as:
- (a) the area occupation of which changes is less than—
- (i) in respect of a holding in Northern Ireland, three quarters of the area of the holding as previously constituted (and also no larger than 40 hectares), and
- (ii) in respect of a holding elsewhere, one quarter of the area of the remainder of the holding (and also no larger than 5 hectares), and
- (b) the interest of the occupier who moves into that part of that holding is a tenancy or less than a tenancy and has a duration of less than one year—"