To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the trend in the number of farms on which it is the farmer's sole occupation to run the farm; and if he will make a statement.

Information is not available in the precise form requested. The following table gives the number of whole-time farmers, partners and directors in England over the last 10 years as collected at the June agricultural census:

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to help young entrants into farming.

As the Minister said in his reply of 8 March to my hon. Friend the Member for Elmet (Mr. Batiste), Official Report, column 839, this Department gives grants to young farmers under the farm and conservation grant regulations at rates 25 per cent. higher than for other farmers.We had also hoped to introduce a scheme to lend milk quota to new entrants. However, the Commission has ruled that there is no basis in Community law for such a scheme and has declined to propose the necessary changes at this stage. In view of strong objections to a scheme based on outright grant of quota, the Government have decided not to proceed with such a scheme.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many people are employed for each one hundred hectares on farms of (a) under 200 hectares, (b) between 200 and 1,000 hectares and (c) over 1,000 hectares.

The information for England is given in the table, and is taken from the June 1989 agricultural census. Persons employed here cover all categories of the work force (full-time or part-time) including farmers, partners, directors, managers, family and hired workers, and. seasonal or casual employees.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if his Department has any plans to introduce definitions of small, medium and large farms.

We have no plans to introduce such definitions, which would have limited relevance given the variations in types of farms and in farming conditions.