Farming (Hansard, 27 October 1993)

§ Mr. Home Robertson
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will make a statement on the reason for, and consequences of, the discrepancy between the arable base area declared by his Department to the European Commission, and the actual area revealed through the integrated administration and control system on non-less favoured area farms in Scotland;
(2) what representations he has made to the European Commission about the impact of penalties to be imposed on arable farming businesses in the non-less favoured area of Scotland as a consequence of the failure of his 690W Department to give accurate information about arable areas before 1993; and if he will make a statement on the outcome of such representations.

§ Sir Hector Monro
The original base areas provided on 16 September 1992 for the arable area payments scheme (AAPS) introduced this year were based on agricultural census data. In the light of information subsequently available from claims submitted under the AAPS as part of the integrated administration and control system it became apparent that these data understated the amount of land on which non-less favoured area rates of subsidy were payable.
As soon as it became apparent that an adjustment to the base area figures originally submitted to the Commission was necessary, my right hon. Friend personally pressed the Commission to agree to a technical adjustment of the Scottish base areas. The Commission has now agreed to the necessary technical adjustment of the less favoured area and the non-less favoured area elements within Scotland's total base area; this adjustment has not altered the total base area originally provided. My right hon. Friend and I are most grateful to the Commission for agreeing to that readjustment.
There remains an overshoot in the non-LFA area which reflects an increase in cropping in that area. The EC regulations governing the arable area payments scheme stipulate that the effect of this overshoot is to reduce arable aid payments within the non-LFA area proportionately in the current year and to increase the set-aside requirement in the coming year by the percentage by which the regional base has been exceeded, that increase being uncompensated.
My right hon. Friend and I fully recognise that any penalty will be unwelcome to arable farmers. We cannot however vary the total Scottish base area, which reflects data already formally submitted to the Commission; nor can we adjust the area base control regime in mid-stream. The scheme is designed to penalise areas in excess of base areas on which aid is claimed; and we cannot simply ignore the problem of over-cropping and the resultant penalty and additional one-year set-aside requirement.

§ Mr. Home Robertson
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the basis for the non-less favoured area arable acreage declared by his Department to the European Commission; what was the difference between that figure and the actual figure in 1993; and what assessment he has made of his Department's analysis of figures provided by farmers in agricultural returns before 1993.

§ Sir Hector Monro
The non-less favoured area arable areas declared to the Commission for the purposes of the arable area payments scheme were based on those declared in the annual agricultural census averaged over the three years 1989 to 1991, adjusted to take account of the difference between the statistical basis of the census and the subsidy basis of the arable area payments scheme. The difference between the area claimed in 1993 and the area declared is 23,247 hectares. The arable area payments scheme regulations specify the basis on which declared areas had to be determined.