§ Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smithasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give details of the £50 million expenditure to be made available for the milk supplementary levy (outgoers) scheme which he announced on 25 May; what adjustments are being made to cash limits to accommodate this expenditure; and whether any other change in cash limits is being proposed for the departmental votes for which he has responsibility.
§ Mr. JoplingPayments under the milk supplementary levy (outgoers) scheme to producers discontinuing milk production for sale will be made in five equal annual instalments. Annual expenditure of £10 million will be distributed as follows
£6,249,000 to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to meet expenditure arising in England;£775,000 to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland;£1,260,000 to the Welsh Office;£1,716,000 to the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland.Parliamentary approval for the first year's payments in England, Wales and Scotland will be sought in the winter Supplementary Estimates. For Northern Ireland, parliamentary approval will be sought in their autumn Supplementary Estimates. It is proposed to bring a Bill before the House shortly to give statutory effect to the scheme.
In addition to these changes, a winter Supplementary Estimate will also be presented for additional administrative expenditure by the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce on class III vote 2. This will seek provision to cover the additional work load arising from this year's CAP price fixing settlement, the record cereals harvest and the need for inspection facilities under the beef premium scheme. The increase will be offset by a transfer from class III, vote 4.
The consequent changes to cash limits are as follows:
139W*Offsetting changes, as described above.
†Savings made following the abolition of National Insurance Surcharge.
‡The reduction results from savings on the Welsh Development Agency's grant in aid (—£2,500,000) required to offset additional expenditure on Selective Financial Assistance in class XVI, vote 3. It also incorporates the cost of dairy produce quota local panels (+£125,000), the surrender of excess appropriations in aid (—£90,000) and savings made following the abolition of national insurance surcharge (—£17,000).
║Figures for Northern Ireland are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million.
¶Details of the funding of part of the increased cost to the NHS of recent pay awards are given by the Chief Secretary in a written answer of today's date.
Cash limit increases not offset by reductions are being charged to the Reserve.