asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many fanners have been refused improvement grants under the Agriculture Act, 1957, on the grounds that their farms are not economic units; and what proportion of the farmers are likely to find themselves excluded from the Small Farmer Scheme on the grounds that their standard labour requirements exceed 450 man-days.

Up to 31st December, 1958, 1,988 applications for improvement grants under the Agriculture Act, 1957, had been rejected on the grounds that the land to be improved would not after improvement provide a sufficient livelihood to an average occupier. I am unable to say how many of the farmers concerned would be ineligible for assistance under the Small Farmer Scheme because the standard labour requirements of their farm business exceed 450 standard man-days The number is likely to be small however because I would expect the difference of treatment to arise only in cases where the farm business as a whole is large but the land is in divided ownership or the occupier is relying heavily on intensive production based on bought-in feeding-stuffs.

When he is framing his scheme under the Agriculture (Small Farmers) Bill will my right hon. Friend make special provision to avoid a situation arising in which a farmer who has been refused an improvement grant on the ground that his farm is incapable of providing a living comparable with that of a farm worker finds himself excluded from the Small Farmer Scheme simply because he has proved, in fact, that the farm is capable of providing such a living?

I will bear in mind what my hon. Friend has said, but there may still be cases which fall between two stools. An example would be where the applicant has 25 acres of poor land on which he keeps several thousand head of poultry. The poultry would mean an assessment of well over 450 standard man-days, but because of the limited area and poor quality of the land the holding would not satisfy the statutory tests of a farm improvement scheme.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on his proposed alterations on the standard man-days to be used on the qualifying test for the Small Farmer Scheme.

I have given further consideration to the provisional list of standard labour requirements which was published for the purposes of illustration in Appendix I to the White Paper "Assistance for Small Farmers" and have decided to make a number of minor changes in the requirements allotted to some kinds of crops and livestock. In doing so I have taken into account comments received from the Farmers Unions and other responsible sources. I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing these changes.

Mr. Wiley:

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that we appreciate the fact that his mind is not closed about this matter, but there have been a number of criticisms and he has paid some attention to them? As he would not accept my suggestion of a committee, will he keep the matter under review with his officers?

I can assure the hon. Member that is precisely what I have been doing.

What do the minor alterations add up to by way of increasing the present limit of 450 man-days?

I am circulating details, but, roughly speaking, at the upper end of the scale their general tendency will be to bring more farmers within the Scheme. That is because we are putting a lower value on poultry, orchards, lettuces, carrots and crops under glass. We are increasing the assessment of breeding sows, gilts and boars.

Following is the table: