§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the annual cost to the Exchequer of the existing European Communities monetary compensatory amounts paid on pigmeat.
§ Mr. MacGregorExpenditure on monetary compensatory amounts is fully funded by the Community budget to which the United Kingdom's contribution is about 20 per cent, before abatement by the Fontainebleau mechanism. However, the available figures do not show expenditure on pigmeat MCAs separately, and therefore no estimate can be made of the cost to the Exchequer of such expenditure.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the estimated level of public expenditure planned for pigmeat monetary compensatory amounts between now and fiscal year 1992–93.
§ Mr. MacGregorUnited Kingdom MCAs are paid as subsidies on imports and charged as levies on exports. Because of Community arrangements designed to simplify MCA administration, many transactions involving United Kingdom MCAs are handled in other member states. Moreover, United Kingdom provision figures do not identify pigmeat mcas separately. For these reasons, it is not possible to provide the answers sought.