§ Lord Swinfenasked Her Majesty's Government:
If they will make a statement about their review of the agricultural land classification of England and Wales.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)I am pleased to announce that the revised guidelines and criteria for grading the quality of agricultural land are being published today. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House. New data and technology have allowed us to develop a revised ALC system. This builds on the strengths of the existing system, but we have been able to take advantage of modern methods to make it more objective and definitive.
The revised system reflects comments received during the consultation exercise earlier this year. It will come into operation on 1st January 1989.