Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Fisheries and Food – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 15 May 1980.
Mr Bill Walker
, Perth and East Perthshire
12:00,
15 May 1980
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what he anticipates will be the total hectarage of plantings for the 1980 ware potato crop.
Mr Alick Buchanan-Smith
, Angus North and Mearns
It is too early to give a reliable estimate, but it appears likely that plantings will be somewhat bigger than the target area of 168,000 hectares.
Mr Bill Walker
, Perth and East Perthshire
I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the major problem for farmers and industry this year will be imports of potatoes from the Continent? Does he agree that, unlike the French, who ignored the European Court's decision on sheepmeat, we have accepted the decision on potato imports?
Mr Alick Buchanan-Smith
, Angus North and Mearns
I am sure that my hon. Friend recognises that we have been open to the import of main crop potatoes for the past year. The quantity of potatoes that has arrived has not been enough to disrupt our market. I am sure that my hon. Friend's constituents recognise that there is a two-way trade in potatoes and that a large quantity of seed potatoes from his Constituency are exported
John Home Robertson
, Berwick and East Lothian
Is the Minister impressed, as I am, by the great faith shown by those farmers who have laid out vast amounts of money in planting their acreage of potatoes before they even know what this year's guarantee price will be? How soon will the Minister make an announcement on the guarantee price for the current yield crop?
Mr Alick Buchanan-Smith
, Angus North and Mearns
The announcement on the guarantee price has been delayed because we are still waiting to see whether a potato regime is worked out for this year within Europe. We hope, in the absence of a regime, to make an announcement as soon as possible.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
