§ 33. Mr. Nicholas Bakerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he can report on the prospective arrangements for milk quotas in 1986–87.
§ Mr. JoplingI shall shortly be laying before the House the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 1986 which will provide, in England and Wales, for the further allocations of quota for 1985–86 which I announced in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) on 25 February. The effect of the regulations in Scotland was explained by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in his reply of 4 March to my hon. Friend the Member for Strathkelvin and Bearsden (Mr. Hirst). In other respects the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 1986 will not alter the existing quota arrangements for 1986–87. They will consolidate the previous regulations and amendments.
The Commission has made two proposals which could affect the quota arrangements for 1986–87. First, there is the proposed Community outgoers scheme, which I referred to in replying to my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Mr. Knox) earlier today. Secondly, in the context of the price proposals, the Commission has proposed changing to six-monthly collection of the supplementary levy. While I recognise there could be difficulties for producers in this change (and I shall be seeking to minimise these difficulties), I believe it would reduce the risk of exceeding quota in the Community as a whole.