David Ruffley MP questioned the Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs- James Paice MP- in the House of Commons about what the government was doing to help the industry diversify into biofuel production.

Mr Ruffley said that the 'greater use of biofuels in this country will not only cut CO2 emissions, but give a vital boost to East Anglian sugar beet growers.'

Mr David Ruffley (Bury St Edmunds) (Con): What steps her Department is taking to support the sugar beet industry.

The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr James Paice): As my hon. Friend knows, supporting the farming sector is fundamental to my Department's business. The sugar beet sector remains heavily regulated by the common agricultural policy, and it is expected that it will be considered during the forthcoming round of CAP reforms in response to the European Union budget review. The UK Government will seek an outcome where our sugar beet industry can thrive in a more competitive and sustainable environment.

Mr Ruffley: The Minister will understand that the greater use of biofuels in this country will not only cut CO2 emissions, but give a vital boost to East Anglian sugar beet growers. British Sugar would like to know what the Government are doing to provide incentives to companies such as itself to invest in future biofuel production. Can the Minister tell us?

Mr Paice: Incentives for biofuel production are primarily a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, but I can assure my hon. Friend that we fully recognise the pioneering work that British Sugar has done at the Wissington factory in Norfolk, where it produces biofuels and uses the heat generated as a by-product to grow tomatoes in glasshouses. I can also assure him that we are determined to encourage and enable our sugar industry to contribute just as much to biofuels as to our sugar supply. However, in terms of the detail, he needs to address himself to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Afterwards Mr Ruffley said: 'The UK currently imports a large majority of its ethanol from Brazil, when the UK is perfectly capable of producing it as demonstrated by British Sugar's biofuel plant in Wissington, Norfolk.

'There is the chance of bioethanol being produced at the British Sugar plant in Bury St Edmunds but British Sugar want to know if the Government is serious about stimulating the market for biofuels, including bioethanol.'

In the last Government, Lord Rooker stated at the opening of the Wissington plant that he did not expect the then Government to provide financial support to those companies investing in the future of UK biofuel production. We need the new, much greener Government to look at this again.'