HC Deb 13 December 2001 vol 376 c951W
30. Mr. Brady

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to promote the viability of the British sugar beet industry. [20586]

Mr. Morley

Support for the sugar beet industry is regulated under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). A revised sugar regime under the CAP was agreed at the May 2001 Agriculture Council and runs for five years until 1 July 2006, with a review in the early part of 2003. We continue to believe that further substantive reform is needed to take account of trade liberalisation resulting from the "Everything But Arms" agreement and to put the industry on a more sustainable basis for the future.