§ Hugh RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what economic assessment has been made of the cost of the recent 181W Agricultural Wages Board settlement on (a) agriculture, (b) horticulture, (c) the soft fruit sector and (d) the top fruit sector. [75915]
§ Alun MichaelFollowing the Agricultural Wages Board annual pay negotiations on 3/4 July, an assessment of the impact of the proposed changes to be included in the 2002 Wages Order was issued by the Board's Secretariat on 5 August 2002. Copies were sent to all the people who requested further information on the Board's proposals. This showed the increased cost to the agriculture industry in England and Wales over the period 1 October 2002 to 30 June 2003, resulting from the proposed changes, to be between £57 and £69 million. These costings were derived from the Ready Reckoner prepared annually by Defra for the Board to use during the pay negotiations. Cost estimates for individual sectors of the industry were not prepared.
Cost assessments were also prepared by the National Farmers Union and the Transport and General Workers Union. Defra statisticians also reviewed the results of the September 2001 Earnings and Hours Survey and submitted a paper to the Board showing how this would affect the Board's assessment of the impact of the 2002 proposals. In addition Defra economists prepared a paper for the Board, providing an update on the economic performance of each of the key sectors in the agriculture and horticulture industry. The Board's Secretariat has confirmed that all these papers were considered by a meeting of the Board's Working Party which took place on 27 August (immediately prior to the Board's Confirmation meeting on 29 August). This meeting was intended to ensure that both sides of the Board and the Independent members had a clear understanding of how the proposals would impact on both the employers' costs and workers' pay.