asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish details of the size of poultry flocks for egg production and the percentage that these flocks bear to the total number of poultry.

Just under three quarters of the 89·6 million fowls in England and Wales are kept for egg production, and just over one quarter for table poultry. If I may take 500 laying fowls as a convenient dividing line between large and small flocks, 57 per cent. were in the small flocks. I will be sending my hon. Friend a detailed statistical statement. None of these figures includes fowls on pieces of land up to I acre in size.