asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has any fresh proposals to make to the European Economic Community concerning the transferability of milk quotas.

I am actively pursuing the possiblity of both sale and leasing of milk quotas separately from the land in my discussions within the Community. Changes would be required to both Community and domestic legislation before either form of transfer could be implemented. It is clear, however, that there is very strong resistance from the Commission and some other member states to a sale and purchase scheme. There is also resistance, although on a lesser scale, to a leasing scheme. Thus, changes to the Community legislation will be very difficult to secure and I cannot predict the outcome of our negotiations at this stage.