§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make it her policy to allow second-hand machinery to be bought with processing and marketing grants; [80446]
(2) what assessment she has made of the impact on the competitiveness within the EU of British farmers, of the policy of not allowing processing and marketing grants to be used for the purchase of second-hand machinery. [80447]
§ Margaret BeckettEU Commission Regulation 445/2002, in the detailed rules on processing and marketing grants, restricts expenditure eligible for aid to new machinery and equipment.