asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, for each product subject to the common agricultural policy, what quantities have been sold at subsidised prices within the European Economic Community in the latest year for which the figures are available; what was the cost in £ sterling of such subsidies; and what were the comparable figures in each of the three previous years.
Information on subsidised sales of butter and skimmed milk and of milk under the school milk scheme and on consumption aid for olive oil is as follows. Beef is released from intervention stocks at discounted prices for use by social institutions and by processors but information is not readily available on the quantities or costs involved.
| Subsidised sales of butter and skimmed milk (expressed as skimmed milk powder equivalent). | |||
| Butter (thousand tonnes) | Skimmed milk (thousand tonnes) | Total cost (£ million) | |
| 1978 | 725·5 | 2,101·1 | 715·4 |
| 1979 | 681·7 | 2,195 | 816·4 |
| 1980 | 543 | 1,667·7 | 762·4 |
| 1981 | 532·8 | 1,661 | 667·7 |
Milk subsidised under the school milk scheme
| |||
School years
| Milk and yoghurt (thousand tonnes)
| Cheese (thousand tonnes)
| Total cost (£ million) (Calendar years)
|
| 1977–78 | 171·9 | 0·008 | £12·4 (1978) |
| 1978–79 | 275·3 | 6·9 | £29·3 (1979) |
| 1979–80 | 287·0 | 5·9 | £41·5 (1980) |
| 1980–81 | 255·2 | 3·4 | £34·6 (1981) |
Consumption aid for olive oil
| ||
olive oil (thousand tonnes)
| Cost (£ million)
| |
| 1978–79 | 124·3 | 20·9 |
| 1979–80 | 193·3 | 38·8 |
| 1980–81 | 234·2 | 58·5 |
Note: Consumption aid for olive oil was introduced from 1 April 1979.
Source: Commission of the European Communities.