asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was collected by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise by way of protective duty on imports of sheepmeat from non-EEC countries in each year from 1970; and how much of this was handed over to the EEC to finance expenditure under the EEC budget.

[pursuant to his reply, 23 November 1979]: Separate figures for sheepmeat are not readily available. However, protective duty charged on imports of meat and meat preparations from non-EEC countries is available from 1974 and was as follows:

	£ million
1974	15·9
1975	25·1
1976	37·6
1977	46·1
1978	55·0

These are the gross amounts accountable to the EEC but total United Kingdom contributions to the Community budget are governed by the transitional measures laid down in articles 130 and 131 of the Treaty of Accession.