§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many claims for payments under the sheep annual premium scheme were submitted after the prescribed date.
§ Mr. CurryA total of 1,082 claims are estimated to have been received by my Department after the advertised closing dates of the first and second application periods under the 1993 sheep annual premium scheme. This represents about 2.6 per cent. of the total number of claims submitted. We repeatedly emphasise to farmers the importance of lodging their claims by the closing date.