§ Mr. Andrew WelshTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the costs to the Exchequer of set-aside schemes, showing income received from the EEC expenditure to farmers and the net expenditure saving to the Exchequer.
§ Mr. MacleanI have been asked to reply.
The expected cost to the Exchequer of payments in the current financial year is about £11 million, of which approximately 42 per cent. is reimbursable from the European guidance and guarantee fund. The net expenditure saving to the Exchequer depends on a number of factors: I will be in a better position to assess this once I have the results of an economic evaluation of the first year of the scheme. This evaluation is currently in progress.