§ Mr. Rowlandasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has completed his review of the rules about late claims for subsidy; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PeartAs a result of a review covering all the schemes which have a time limit for the submission of claims, I have been able to make some limited modifications in the rules now applied to late claims. These modifications will permit some additional circumstances to be taken into account in the applicant's favour. I am satisfied that the changes go as far as possible towards making the rules reasonably fair to all applicants, bearing in mind that it is entirely the applicant's responsibility to get his claims in on time.
The new rules will be applied to cases of failure to meet any future closing dates. It is not practicable to apply them retrospectively.