§ Lord Stanley of Alderleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many, if any, United Kingdom producers will qualify for payment within 60 days for grain delivered into intervention; whether all other United Kingdom producers will be paid within 90–120 days of delivering grain into intervention; and whether both these arrangements will be in 264WA force for the commencement of the 1985 harvest and will continue unchanged until July 1986.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Belstead)Under Community legislation rules concerning payment for deliveries of cereals into intervention are a matter for regulations made by the European Commission, after first seeking the opinion of member states within the Cereals Management Committee. It is open to the commission at any time to propose changes in the rules. The commission have made a regulation providing for payment for deliveries during the 1985–86 marketing year to be made between 90 and 120 days following delivery, and this requirement will be applied in the United Kingdom. They have also announced their intention of allowing member states, at their discretion, to make earlier payments for deliveries of cereals from small producers but have not yet put forward a specific proposal. I do not envisage that the Government would make use of such a facility in the United Kingdom.