Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Monday, 5 June 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 June 2006. It was answered by Barry Gardiner (Labour) on Wednesday, 5 July 2006 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Milk Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assistance he is making available to encourage co-operation in the milk industry.

Answer: The Government are helping to promote greater co-operation through the Dairy Supply Chain Forum. The group regularly brings together all the key links in the supply chain to discuss the challenges facing the dairy industry, and to develop collaborative solutions.The dairy industry also directly benefits from grants awarded under the Agriculture Development scheme. These are helping to fund benchmarking workshops and create a network of dairy best practice groups.The Government are also supporting the work of English Farming and Food Partnerships (EFFP). Its aim is to promote and encourage greater co-operation and collaboration in all sectors of the farming and food industries, and all the major dairy co-operatives in England are involved. EFFP is currently taking forward an initiative called ““share to milk””, which will highlight examples of successful collaborative activity and best practice in the dairy sector.

Secondary information