HL Deb 11 July 1991 vol 530 cc98-100WA
Lord Mountevans

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What are the arrangements for the five-year set-aside scheme in 1991/92 and will they allow the use of set-aside land to grow non-food crops?

Baroness Trumpington

The five-year set-aside scheme will be open to new applications from 1st August 1991. The only changes to the rules of the existing scheme will be to provide for the partial refund of cereals coresponsibility levy paid between 31st July 1991 and 30th June 1992 to set-aside participants. The refund is expected (subject to detailed Commission rules) to amount to £2.68 per tonne. Application forms and explanatory booklets will be available from local divisional offices at the end of this month. These forms must be returned by 30th September 1991.

We have consulted interested bodies on the EC regulations permitting member states to permit the growing of cereals for non-food uses on set-aside land. In the light of that consultation and the report to this House by the Select Committee on European Communities (Sub-Committee D) on non-food uses of agricultural products, we have concluded that we should not introduce such a scheme in the UK. We will, however, continue to keep the possibility under review.