§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to announce (a) the quota for individual direct sellers, (b) the quota for wholesale milk producers and (c) the rate of super-levy.
§ Mr. MacGregorMany direct sellers and virtually all wholesale producers in England and Wales have now received a definitive allocation of primary quota and the remaining producers will be informed shortly. Every effort is being made to complete the task of examining special case applications as quickly as possible.
Thanks to the disciplined responses of producers as well as the drought we are within our wholesale quota for the whole of England and Wales for the first two quarters of 641W this year. That being the case, under formula B, no individual producer will be liable for supplementary levy this autumn. It is still too early to predict the likely outcome for the year as a whole.
§ Mr. George Foulkesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has regarding the current levels of milk prouction on other European Economic Communities countries.
§ Mr. MacgregorThe latest published information on deliveries of cows milk to dairies in all member states of the European Community is shown in the table. The figures exclude on-farm use, use for animal feed and in general use for direct sales. The data are provisional and are therefore subject to amendment.
Table: Cows Milk Delivered to Dairies, 1984 '000 tonnes April May June July Germany 2,303.70 2,446.99 2,185 N/A France 2,515.40 2,844.10 2,560.80 2,297.80 Italy 783.83 821.70 N/A N/A Netherlands 1,143.10 1,240.30 1,133.40 1,180.10 Belgium 299.36 365.05 N/A N/A Luxembourg 25.70 30.34 24.84 N/A Ireland 638.30 835.50 773.70 694.74 Denmark 458.90 494.60 450.60 431.20 Greece 35.09 38.49 40.69 40.95 Source: Eurostat.
§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has now received a comprehensive report from the European Community Commissioner regarding the application of the quota system in other member states.
§ Mr. JoplingAt the meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 17–18 September the Agricultural Commissioner gave an oral progress report on the implementation of the milk supplementary levy. He said that most member states had the necessary national legislation in force and that considerable progress had been made in establishing the administrative procedures. I said then, and again at the Council this week, that it was essential that the levies should be applied by all Member States according to the agreed rules. This was fully supported by the Commissioner.
§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many dairy farmers have applied for consideration as (a) special cases, (b) exceptional hardship, (c) direct sellers and (d) outgoers; how many have been accepted in each case; and how many producer-retailers have failed to register as direct sellers.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information required for England and Wales is as follows:
(a) Special Cases
By the closing date for applications of 28 August 23,189 producers had applied for special case treatment. Divisional offices have examined over 22,000 applications out of which over 5,800 claims or part claims have been rejected as not megting all the requirements for a special case claim, while the others have been passed to local panels for consideration. Local panels have taken decisions on well over 10,000 special case claims and they should complete their work during November.
(b) Exceptional Hardship
By 19 October the dairy produce quota tribunal had 642W taken decisions on over 400 cases out of a total of 4,396 applications for additional quota under the exceptional hardship provisions. Over 190 applicants had been notified of the decisions involving awards of approximately 5.3 million litres so far. The tribunal, which has just been enlarged is expected to complete its work on special case appeals and exceptional hardship claims by the end of the year.
(c) Direct Sellers
3,522 producers applied for registration as direct sellers and for allocation of quota by the deadline of 28 August this year. All such producers who were engaged in direct sales on 2 April this year will, prima facie, be eligible for registration and entitled to quota allocations, but the applications are still being processed.
It is not possible to give a firm figure as to how many producer-retailers failed to register as a number of producers with valid milk and dairies licences ceased production shortly before the introduction of the quota arrangements and have no need of quota. Eighteen statutory deadline.
(d) Outgoers
Out of 4,826 applications received, 2,747 producers, offering 275 million litres, have been offered the chance to become outgoers. Some have decided they do not want to proceed—others will then be given the chance.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has about the extent to which other European Economic Community countries have honoured their obligations on the reduction of milk production; and if he will provide separate information in respect of each other member state.
§ Mr. JoplingMilk quotas set for member states relate to a 12-month April–March period. It is not possible to estimate on the basis of the provisional figures so far available whether total deliveries will be within quota by the end of 1984–85. The information available on deliveries in relation to required cutbacks is summarised as follows:
Cutback on 1983–84 deliveries required to stay within 1984–85 wholesale quotas Cutback achieved April–July 1984 against same period 1983 per cent. per cent. France -2.5 +1.7 Netherlands -6.8 -3.9 Ireland +1.7 +5.8 Denmark -6.6 -4.1 Greece +10.0 +0.7 Germany -7.8 -1.9 Italy -2.6 +1.1 Belgium -4.0 -0.1 Luxembourg +3.7 -2.6 United Kingdom -6.2 -7.5 Source: Eurostat.
The foregoing figures are subject to revision. In addition, production is believed to have fallen more sharply in most member states in the August-September period.