§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the number of hill farmers in north-east Lancashire whose incomes are less than £10,000 per annum.
§ Mr. JackInformation on farm incomes is collected by the farm business survey, the results of which are published annually in "Farm Incomes in the United Kingdom".
The latest complete results are for 1992–93 and these indicate that about 47 per cent. of "full-time" cattle and sheep farms in England which are wholly or mainly in the less-favoured areas had a net farm income of less than £10,000. The survey covers some 2,300 farms in England and is designed to provide estimates of farm income for each of the main farm types in England as a whole. The sample is not intended to provide estimates for individual counties and therefore information for farms in north-east Lancashire is not available.