§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what arrangements she is making to pay interest on overdue payments of(a) beef special premium and (b) slaughter premium. [126265]
£ Scheme 2001 payments issued 2001 payments outstanding 2002 payments issued 2002 payments outstanding Beef special premium scheme 111,084,363.74 1,160,740.93 102,502,560.57 10,312,419.37 Slaughter premium scheme 41,933,323 163,792 41,268,488 30,530,948 2001 Payments
The majority of outstanding payments for 2001 relate to claims with unresolved queries and discrepancies. Staff at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) are working hard to resolve these queries and in many cases this has involved contacting claimants to obtain additional information.
2002 Payments
Claimants under the Beef Special Premium Scheme (BSPS) and Slaughter Premium Scheme (SPS) began receiving their advance payments shortly after the bovine payment window opened on 16 October 2002.
Every effort is being made to make as many payments as possible by 31 July 2003.