asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he plans to raise with his Common Market counterparts the application of the machineability test to British wheat and its stringency, so as to permit export of grain from intervention stocks to famine-stricken areas of Third world countries.

My officials have raised the question of the irrelevance of the machineability test to food aid actions on very many occasions in recent years, but have received little support from other member states which have no difficulty in meeting this standard. There is little prospect of its being changed for food aid purposes, but this requirement has not hindered the Community's ability to provide food aid.