§ Mr. CongdonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement about progress with making arable area payments in England. [7118]
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§ Mr. Douglas HoggThere were 46,874 applications for arable area aid in 1995. We met the 30 September deadline for advance payment of 98 per cent. of those claims which included an oilseed element. The 2 per cent. which were unpaid were all subject to unresolved queries.
Payments under the main scheme started on 17 October and, as at 13 December, 27,209 claims—58 per cent. of the total—had been paid. Regional service centres are making every effort to clear outstanding cases by the deadline of 31 December. However, the burden of validating claims to the exacting standards required under the Community rules has proved greater than originally estimated and it now seems likely that some claims will not he paid until after the deadline. I regret this delay, but hope nevertheless that all valid claims will have been paid by the end of January.