§ Sir. John FarrTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the beef special premium, due436W to replace the beef variable premium from 3 April, will be payable direct and in full to those engaged in finishing beef in the traditional manner.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Community special premium for beef is payable to beef producers on up to 90 head of male animals per year at a rate of £28.42 per head. The detailed Community regulations implementing the decisions of the January Agriculture Council are currently being finalised. As we are required to apply the new scheme by 3 April, I have concluded in consultation with the Secretaries of State for Wales and Scotland that we should, at least in the first instance, make use in Great Britain of the option to apply the premium when cattle are sold at live markets for slaughter and at slaughterhouses, as we already have an administrative system for that in place. This will enable those finishing beef to continue to sell cattle through live markets and slaughterhouses and to receive the new premium at a similar marketing stage to the old variable premium.
Farming and trade interests would, I know, see advantage in applying the premium on farm. I shall review in consultation with the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Scotland the practicability and cost-effectiveness of moving in due course to an on-farm basis. A separate announcement will be made shortly about the arrangements to apply in Northern Ireland.
§ Sir John FarrTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how he expects the new beef special premium, due to come in on 3 April to replace the present beef variable premium will apply to the first 90 male animals in a herd only, compared with the present payment on all graded animals regardless of sex, to affect the specialist beef finisher; and to what extent he expects the smaller finisher in the traditional manner will lose premium.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonAs my right hon. Friend explained in his reply to my hon. Friend today the new special premium is to be paid at the same marketing stage as the old variable premium. The rate of payment is £28.42 per head on male animals up to 90 head per producer. The old variable premium varies according to market circumstances and the weight of the beast with a typical value range of about £40 to £54 per beast. With a fixed rate for the new premium, beef finishers will be able to take it more predictably into account in their planning. They will also know that the quality standard which matters is not the certification standard imposed by scheme rules, but the demands which are imposed by market needs. I believe that beef finishers will find that the new premium will enable them to concentrate more on meeting the quality demands of the market. Finishers marketing less than 90 head of male animals per year will be able to claim the new premium on all of them and the payments they receive may well be higher than they would have received at times when the variable premium was paid at less than the maximum rate.