§ Lord Sandysasked Her Majesty's Government:
What changes there will be in milk quotas in England and Wales in 1985–86; and when these will be announced.
§ Lord BelsteadI regret that the delay in reaching agreement in the price fixing negotiations makes it impossible to make any announcement for the time being. Arrangements are in hand to inform individual producers of their quotas for 1985–86 as soon as possible once decisions on the price fixing have been reached.
However, I am pleased to say that for 1985–86 small producers—that is, those with less than 200,000 litres of quotas—will have their quota brought back up to their base year production levels, which in the vast majority of cases will mean their level of production in 1983. This means that for about 40 per cent. of all producers we have wiped out last year's 9 per cent. reduction. I am also pleased to say that for 1985–86 exceptional hardship awards will be made at 100 per cent. of the amount awarded. This means that the two principal objectives of the outgoers' scheme have been achieved.
Direct sellers with less than 200,000 litres will, like wholesale producers, be brought back to their base year level. Producers with both direct sales and wholesale quota will benefit from similar adjustments if the total of their two quotas is less than 200,000 litres. However, no producer's quota will be increased above 200,000 litres, and the adjustments will be tapered to avoid anomalies between producers just above or below the 200,000 litre level. Moreover, the increases will not be applied to development quota.