§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the United Kingdom accepted responsibility for a share of the cost of storing food in intervention; what the current percentage is; and what has been the cost borne by the United Kingdom for such storage over the most recent annual period for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MacGregor[holding answer 30 November 1987]: The Council agreed in April 1986 that, as an economy measure, payments to member states on account of their intervention operations would be reduced by one-quarter with effect from 1 December 1985. However, these payments are calculated on weighted average costs, not differentiated by member state, and therefore do not necessarily match actual costs.
The costs of intervention storage in the United Kingdom in 1986–87 and related receipts from the Community were:
£ million Actual storage costs Community reimbursement Percentage Cereals 79.4 35.8 45 Butter 22.6 14.9 66 Skimmed milk powder 0.8 0.6 75 Beef 25.8 10.6 41 Total 128.6 61.9 48 The United Kingdom's share of the Community's stocks is lower than our share of contributions to the Community's budget. Therefore an increase in .storage rates would not be in our interests since it would inflate our payments to the Community by more than our receipts from it.