Carol Nolan raises concerns about agriculture spending and CE pensions
Carol Nolan questioned last year’s Department of Public Expenditure and Reform allocations to agriculture, noting a total of £1.6 billion with £874.1 million for income and market supports and £356.7 million spent on agriculture policy and strategy. She argued the policy and strategy spend may be disproportionate compared with direct supports for farmers and the rural economy, and pressed for scrutiny of equality budgeting and provision for CE scheme supervisors' pensions.
Spending breakdown
Carol Nolan set out the figures she cited from last year’s allocations - £1.6 billion in total, of which £874.1 million was aimed at income and market supports, and £356.7 million was recorded as expenditure on agriculture policy and strategy. She asked whether the balance between direct financial supports and policy spending was appropriate given rural needs.
Equality budgeting questions
She asked the minister to investigate how the pilot programme of equality budgeting is being implemented in relation to the agriculture and rural economy budget. Nolan asked whether equality budgeting is reducing poverty and strengthening rural economies, stressing the need to know the impact given the level of expenditure directed to the department.
CE scheme supervisors - pensions
Carol Nolan raised the longstanding issue of occupational pensions for CE scheme supervisors, referencing the Labour Court ruling of 2008 that recommended supervisors be afforded occupational pensions. She asked the minister whether provision is being made for those supervisors, saying the matter has dragged on for far too long.
Additional remarks in the speech
The transcript also records a series of fragmented remarks referencing vaccines, television, education and public health without a clear connection to the budget points. These comments were presented as personal observations and did not contain further policy detail in the record.
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Garmelgott, Minister, last year the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform allocated £1.6 billion to agriculture, food and the marine. A significant amount of that particular allocation was aimed at delivering the high-level goal of income and market supports to underpin the rural economy and environment, and that particular amount was in fact £874.1 million. What was surprising to me, however, was the fact that a further £356.7 million was spent on agriculture, policy and strategy. I absolutely accept that we need to have good and robust policies in place, Minister, but does this not seem like a disproportionate amount, especially in light of the overall spend on actual financial supports being delivered to farmers and the rural economy? This is something that I would have concerns about, especially in the context of the Public Service Performance Report. Last year's report highlighted the pilot programme of equality budgeting within a number of departments. This process is supposed to track the progression of policies that aim to advance equality, reduce poverty and strengthen economic and the social rights of citizens. May I ask you to investigate how the equality budgeting concept is being implemented in terms of the budget for agriculture and the rural economy? Is it reducing poverty? Is it strengthening rural economies? We need to know the answer to that, given the level of expenditure that is being directed at that department. And just to conclude, in relation to CE scheme supervisors, we know that the Labour Court ruling 2008 recommended that they be afforded occupational pensions. Minister, I'd just like to ask you that, is provision being made for those supervisors? That issue has dragged on for far too long. I would like to tell you that many good schedules of Canada would only achieve an impact on vaccines. I believe that somehow is from doing a few of my own work of a variety of tasks. And on TV, I think it is important to be able to do that in other places. And on TV, I think it is one for the best personal environmental sciences. I think that has taught me the best personal issues ofchucking. And on TV, I think the English perspective of the contacts. Even though the calibrated who passed on the national education of government, it is about three decades people about looking at the state of the public health sector. And on TV0, it's about two decades before the national education of the international community. There are people who have admitted to do that in television. So, we need to have no need to do that, the way to do that.
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