§ Mr. TrendTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether all 1994 autumn environmentally sensitive area and farm woodland premium scheme payments were made in accordance with targets published in "Commitment to Service"; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldegraveShort delays occurred in making payments made under both these schemes this year. These arose because of the need to accommodate changes in the way part of the national expenditure under the schemes is reimbursed by the European Community.
Reimbursement from the European agricultural guidance and guarantee fund now comes under the guarantee section, rather than the guidance section as was previously the case. It has to be reclaimed by member states from the European Community in the month in which it makes the payments to farmers. When reimbursement was claimed from the guidance section, payments were made annually to member states, in arrears.
Payments under both the environmentally sensitive area and farm woodland premium schemes are normally made to farmers during October. The EC budget year starts on 16 October. This means that payments made in October would fall, unpredictably, within two financial years, leading to budgetary and accounting problems. To avoid this, all payments in 1994 under both schemes were delayed slightly, so that they all took place after 16 1032W October. This has meant that the targets published in "Commitment to Service" could not be met.
Payments have been made as soon as practicable under the new arrangements. Revised "Commitment to Service" targets, taking account of these changes, will be published shortly.