§ Mr. Kennedyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide estimates or figures for the level of uptake amongst Scottish farmers for the milk supplementary levy (outgoers) scheme.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe scheme is intended to purchase 2–25 per cent.—29.8 million litres—of total Scottish milk quota. Some 370 applicants have offered a total of over 120 million litres. An initial invitation to proceed under the scheme has been extended to 169 applicants with quotas up to 268,000 litres and for whom dairying contributes at least a quarter of income. Of these applicants, 68 have accepted the offer to proceed, 36 have not done so and 65 await the outcome of their applications for additional quota before taking a decision.
In the light of the response so far, the invitation has been extended to a further 15 applicants with quotas of up to 300,000 litres. Further invitations will subsequently be made to producers with higher quotas until the target of 29.8 million litres is reached, and it is too early to say what proportion of the total applicants will finally be able to proceed under the scheme.
§ Mr. Kennedyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will express an estimated total for the cost to his Department of the milk supplementary levy (outgoers) scheme.
§ Mr. John MacKayIt is estimated that payments under the scheme in Scotland will total ?3,874,000, spread over the five years 1984–85 to 1988–89.