§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets exist for the Rural Payments Agency in respect of the deadlines within which payments must be made; and what(a) numbers and (b) amounts of payments have (i) been within the target and (ii) failed to meet it in the last 24 months. [88881]
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§ Alun MichaelThe Rural Payments Agency had two targets relating to the payment of valid claims within deadlines
1. To process and pay at least 96.14 per cent. of valid IACS claims by value within the EU deadline; and2. To process and pay 98 per cent. of valid non-IACS claims by volume within Ministerial deadlines and all claims within set EU deadlines or in their absence 60 days. For 2002 this percentage has been reduced to 85 per cent.
Target 1 Value of 2001 scheme year payments made within target (£) 1,056,435,921 Made outside target (£) 146,908,512 Number of 2001 scheme year claims made within target 223,401 Number outside target 96,128 For the 2002 scheme year, no IACS targets have been missed so far.
The payment window for SAPS opened on 16 October 2002 and closes on 31 March 2003. As at 16 December, a total of 26,843 (99.2 per cent.) of Premium and National Envelope top-up payments have been made, of which 97 per cent. were issued in the first few days of the opening of the payment window. In addition, 8,327 producers (98.3 per cent. of those qualifying for the Less Favoured Area Supplement) have now received the supplementary payment amounting to £13.6 million.
The payment window for AAPS opened on the 16 November 2002. As at 15 December, of the 41,345 AAPS claims received for the main scheme payments (excluding rejected and withdrawn), 37,597 (90.93 per cent.) had been authorised and 36,746 claims (88.88 per cent.) had been paid, with a value of £757,549,518.00 (85.69 per cent. of the estimated total to be paid). The target date is set at 31 January 2003. Progress is being made on Bovine Payments but the deadline is 30 June 2003.
Target 2 Value-of 2001–02 payments made within ministerial target (£) 375,411,587 made inside 60-day target (£) 415,478,423 Value of 2002–03 payments made within ministerial target (£) 300,944,770 made inside 60-day target (£) 302,184,748 Number of 2001–02 claims made within ministerial target 774,860 (85.23 per cent.)1 number inside 60-day target 909,051 (99.99 per cent.) Number of 2002–03 claims made within ministerial target 641,563 (99.42 per cent.) number inside 60-day target 645,252 (99.99 per cent.) 1The targets were missed because of prioritisation of resources to FMD related schemes including Livestock Welfare Disposal Scheme.