§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent assessment has been made of the effect of current interest rates on the farming industry in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department estimates that in 1990 interest payments by farmers for current farming purposes amounted to £116.4 million. Details are in "Scottish Agriculture—Output Input and Income Statistics, January 1991", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will make a statement explaining the delay in setting the levels of hill livestock compensatory allowances for 1991;
(2) what plans he has to provide financial assistance to the hill livestock industry in Scotland.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythI refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's reply on 11 February to the hon. Member for Devon, North (Mr. Speller). The increase in rates of hill livestock compensatory allowances announced by my right hon. Friend will add a further £7 million to the £48 million which we pay annually to more than 18,000 Scottish producers. Every effort will be made to make these payments quickly. Other assistance is available under a range of agricultural support schemes, notably the sheep annual premium and the suckler cow premium, which together with the HLCA scheme now provide over £100 million a year to Scottish hill livestock farmers.
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§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the number of full-time farmers in Scotland whose businesses have failed financially in each of the years since 1979.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythNo comprehensive information is available relating to financial failure of farm businesses in Scotland. The only available data of relevance are numbers of farmers declared bankrupt. The annual recorded information on such bankruptcies since 1986—the first year for which the data are likely to be complete —is shown in the table:
Number of farmers 1986 26 1987 36 11988 13 11989 17 1 Provisional.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to meet his EC counterparts to discuss the future of the hill livestock industry in Scotland.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythMy right hon. Friend is always represented at discussions in the Agriculture Council about matters which affect livestock farmers in Scotland.