HC Deb 25 July 1985 vol 83 cc677-8W
Mr. Shersby

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list in the Official Report for the period immediately prior to 1973 and currently, spending by Her Majesty's Government on agricultural support both gross and net of Community refunds, as appropriate; and if he will express the figures as a proportion of total Government expenditure.

Mr. Jopling

Expenditure on gricultural support in the United Kingdom, both gross and net of Community refunds, is set out in the table. Since we contribute to as well as draw from the Community budget any comparison with total public expenditure is best made gross of refunds from the Community.

Expenditure on agricultural support in the United Kingdom*
1972–73 †1984–85
(A) Gross of Community refunds (£ million) 267 1,780
(B) As a percentage of total public expenditure (percentage) 1.1 1.4
(C) Net of community Refunds (£ million) 267 640
(D) As a percentage of total public expenditure (percentage) 1.1 0.5
* Expenditure taken from the Annual Review of Agriculture White Paper Series.
† Forecast.

Mr. Shersby

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list in the Official Report for 1984, 1985 and estimates for 1986, in thousand million European currency units (a) total spending on agricultural market support for the Community as a whole (European agricultural guidance guarantee fund guarantee section) and on agricultural structures (European agricultural guidance guarantee fund guidance Section), (b) the split of spending on agricultural market support by commodity and other items as conventionally set out by the Commission, (c) the same figures but recast to treat commodity specific agricultural revenue consistently so that the dairy and sugar totals are both on a basis net of producer levies and (d) the total for spending on agricultural market support permitted for 1986 under the areement on financial disciplines; and how this total was calculated, giving the values of the tnain parameters in the calculations.

Mr. Jopling

The following table gives the information requested on EAGGF expenditure.

(billion ecus)
1984 outturn* 1985 Budget 1986 Preliminary Draft Budget†
Guarantee Section‡
Cereals and rice 1.698 2.415 3.135
Sugar 1.632 1.689 1.570
Olive Oil 1.096 0.897 1.077
Oilseeds & proteins 0.871 1.210 1.365
Textiles 0.108 0.213 0.239
Fruit & vegetables 1.455 1.356 1.106
Wine 1.223 0.998 1.115
Tobacco 0.776 0.841 0.850
Milk & milk products 5.442 6.602 6.280
Beef 2.547 2.460 2.256
Sheepmeat 0.434 0.451 0.465
Pigmeat 0.196 0.163 0.219
Eggs & Poultry 0.070 0.124 0.129
Processed products 0.382 0.402 0.448
Monetary Compensatory Amounts 0.376 0.109 0.144
Accession Compensatory Amounts n/a n/a 0.039
Minor products 0.052 0.054 0.052
Clearance of previous year's accounts -0.025 -0.150
Compensation for MCA changes 0.120 0.100
Stock depreciation 0.423
Total 18.331 19.955 21.012
Expenditure net of sugar and isoglucose leviesob/:
Sugar 0.455 0.664 0.523
Total 17.154 18.930 19.965
Guidance Section 0.676 0.660 0.926
* Provisional.
† 1986 figures include provision for expenditure in Spain and Portugal (0.570 becu in the guarantee section). They also include food aid refunds which the Commission has proposed should be transferred to title 9 of the budget.
‡ Excluding fisheries.
ob/ Milk figures are already net of levies.

The Commission has estimated maximum permitted expenditure on agricultural market support in 1986 under the financial guideline as 20.619 becu for a Community of ten. The details of the calculation are included in the Commission's document COM(85)324 "Key Figures for the 1986 Budget" which was deposited in the Library of the House on 25 June.

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