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Farming and Food Commission Report - 29 January 2002

Mr. David Curry (Skipton and Ripon): Perhaps I should make it clear that Sir Don Curry and I are not related.

At the heart of the report is a recommendation to go further in the shift from production support to support for environmental and rural development programmes. First, where on the Richter scale does the Secretary of State put the probability of securing the match funding for increased modulation from the Treasury in the course of the review that is about to be undertaken? Secondly, many of the programmes are small, difficult to monitor and intensive in the use of administrative resources. It is difficult to know whether they are giving value for money. There is also the problem of measuring outputs.
Does the right hon. Lady agree that we should work out exactly what we want in the way of public good from agriculture, what we are willing to pay for it and how we deliver it? Does she agree also that we must take care that we do not replace one abuse with another and end up with a mountain of schemes that may be of poor quality, however well packaged in green?

Margaret Beckett: The right hon. Gentleman makes an important and powerful point. I was pleased to see him at the commission's press briefing this morning.

The right hon. Gentleman is right to identify that the commission strongly recommends that we shift resources away from production subsidies and support into support for the wider environment and rural schemes. He is right, too, to say that there will be a need, if we can convince people that it is the right direction to take, for proper structures and monitoring.

I do not disagree with anything that the right hon. Gentleman has said, but as he will recall the commission said that it believes that the existence of current subsidies and their structure does practical and real damage both to farming and to the environment. I suspect, although I did not hear anyone put the question this morning, that the commission would argue that there is in any event a good case for phasing out the present subsidies. I believe that it is much of the view, however, that there are other things, in the context of the environment and in other areas, that farming communities undertake that merit public support. I agree that it is not a simple issue and that there needs to be careful consideration.

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David Curry MP | House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA | tel: 020 7219 6202