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Milk Quotas and the Potato Marketing Board
9. Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met representatives of the National Farmers Union to discuss milk quotas and the Potato Marketing Board. [11273]
Mr. Douglas Hogg: I regularly meet representatives of the National Farmers Union to discuss issues of importance to them.
Mr. Winterton: A brief response from my right hon. and learned Friend. Are not the United Kingdom's climate and agricultural land ideal for the production of milk and the growing of potatoes? Is it not vital that we do not rely upon set-aside as a long-term income for farmers, and that we fully and properly utilise our agricultural land? At the next meeting of Agriculture Ministers, will my right hon. and learned Friend therefore press for additional quota for milk producers? Will he ensure that the proposed development council for the potato industry is properly representative of the growers?
Mr. Hogg: Our long-term objective is certainly to do away with price support systems and restraints on production. In the shorter term, we are arguing within the European Union for much greater transferability of milk quota between member states, and we shall continue to do so.
Dr. Strang: On the subject of the European milk regime, I thank the Minister for placing in the Library the request that the British Government made two years ago for permission to continue to receive European funds for milk in our secondary schools and for school meals. Did he agree with that approach? Did he agree with what the then Minister of State, now the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said about those payments being important for the nutrition of our schoolchildren? If so, why is he stopping those funds now?
Mr. Hogg: That question shows that the Labour party is not serious about reducing public expenditure and, therefore, is not serious in its pretensions to reduce taxation. We must see whether public money is being spent properly. We came to the conclusion that it was not in that case. That was the correct conclusion. The hon. Gentleman's question shows, yet again, that Labour says one thing and does another.
British Food Exports
10. Mr. Riddick: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the recent export performance of the United Kingdom food industry. [11274]
Mrs. Browning: The export performance of our food and drink industry remains buoyant. The latest figures available, for the 12 months ending October 1995, show a rise of some 10 per cent. compared with 1994.
Mr. Riddick: Is my hon. Friend aware that a recent survey showed that British chocolate is more popular on the continent than is continental chocolate? Is she aware that Glenys Kinnock MEP said at a recent inter-group meeting that vegetable fat should not be incorporated in chocolate? Is not vegetable fat the very thing that makes British chocolate unique? Is it not the case that, whether it be chocolate manufacturers or airlines, the Kinnocks are not exactly doing British companies any favours?
Mrs. Browning: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The British chocolate and confectionery industry is one
of which we can all be rightly proud in terms of home sales and exports. My right hon. and learned Friend the Minister has outlined to the House the representations that he is making in defence of British chocolate. I had a meeting with Commissioner Kinnock a few months ago at which he assured me that he would bat for Britain. From the report that my hon. Friend has mentioned, it sounds as though there is trouble with her indoors.
Mr. Foulkes: Recognising the importance of potatoes to our food export industry, will the Minister gather information about Girvan Early Growers, an effective and efficient co-operative for growing and marketing potatoes, which had a turnover of £1 million last year? The co-operative was set up by six farmers in and around Girvan in my constituency. Will she use that information to encourage similar co-operatives to boost potato production in the whole of the UK?
Mrs. Browning: The hon. Gentleman draws attention to his constituency just as British producers are working in co-operatives to ensure that they are growing what the customer wants. I commend them, and I shall encourage others to follow that example.
Retail Prices Index (Food Goods)
11. Mr. David Evans: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of food goods used to compile the retail prices index are sourced from the United Kingdom. [11276]
Mr. Boswell: The retail prices index is based on a range of food and other goods and services intended to be representative of current consumer purchases. It does not take account of their sourcing, but my colleagues and I are anxious to encourage British food.
Mr. Evans: Does my hon. Friend agree with Janice that all food goods produced in the United Kingdom should be marked with a United Kingdom flag, and that all imported goods should be marked F for foreign? Does he also agree that that lot over there should wear badges showing their sell-by date so that we can all know the difference between new Labour and old Labour? We would then really know what the word hypocrisy means.
Mr. Boswell: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his interesting suggestion--his and Janice's. There are certain technical problems in relation to both parts of the suggestion. In relation to food products, some are processed and might lose their original identity, while some might be blended together. In relation to Opposition Members, the biggest technical problem is that we might not know from one day to another whether they were old Labour, new Labour or somewhere in between. I have come to the conclusion that the Leader of the Opposition's recent support for the right to roam has come about because Opposition Members want to distance themselves from each other as far as they possibly can.
Mr. Tipping: Does not the common agricultural policy add about £20 to a typical family's weekly bill? Is not a reform of the CAP essential, and needed urgently, if we are to help ordinary families with their cost of living?
Mr. Boswell: While the common agricultural policy is expensive--my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister
has taken the lead in Europe in advocating change-- I would not necessarily accept the figure that the hon. Gentleman quoted. The cause of CAP reform can be taken forward only by a party that is prepared to speak out for it; it cannot be taken forward by a party that is prepared to cave in to other interests to ensure that it is never isolated in Europe, even when it is wrong--as it usually is.
Mr. Nicholas Baker: Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be desirable for British beef and meat products to form a high proportion of the items in the retail prices index? Would not it be more difficult to produce and export British beef if local education authorities emulated the incompetent Liberal Democrat administration at Dorset county hall? Is he aware that it introduced a ban on beef products in schools, based on no evidence but on rumour and media hype? Two weeks ago, it cancelled the ban--thank goodness--but the damage to the confidence of young people in British beef products is considerable and that to the farming community incalculable. Is that not another example of the Liberal Democrats being prepared to say anything to anybody?
Mr. Boswell: My hon. Friend is entirely right. It seems from the report that he has given to the House that Dorset county council, under its present administration, is not good at running its schools and would be rotten at running a British export drive.
Canned Foods Industry
12. Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on developments in the canned foods industry. [11277]
Mrs. Browning: None recently, although my Department keeps in regular touch with the industry on issues of concern.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: Is there not a public interest case for the fullest possible disclosure of information on industrial accidents and food hygiene in the food canning industry in the United Kingdom? Will the Minister call on Campbell Soups of Camden, New Jersey to publish that information in the form of reports and surveys on its United Kingdom operations and, in particular, on its factories in England?
Mrs. Browning: There are already in place mechanisms through the Health and Safety Executive and environmental health officers for monitoring food processing plants. If the hon. Gentleman has specific factories and incidents in mind, and has information that he can substantiate, we would be grateful to receive it.
Mr. Bellingham: Is my hon. Friend aware that there are many canning jobs in King's Lynn in my constituency, including those of nearly 500 people who work for Campbell's? They are sympathetic to what the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) is trying to do to save the factory in his constituency, but are against the boycott of Campbell's products because it could jeopardise their jobs.
Mrs. Browning: The House recognises the concern of the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours)
about the loss of jobs at Campbell's in Maryport. He knows that I have supported the action that he has taken through legitimate means to try to represent his constituents. The Government cannot support a boycott of one product against another because, as he will be aware, jobs all around the country are involved, including those in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) and in Stratford-on-Avon, which have benefited from the losses that the constituents of the hon. Member for Workington have sustained.
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