§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if all farms currently zoned as hill land will be eligible for aid under die EEC directive on less favoured areas.
§ Mr. StrangI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 23rd June 1975. Under existing legislation eligibility relates to the land rather than the farm and all land now eligible for the full range of hill subsidies will remain eligible. However, under the terms of the Directive farms containing less than three hectares of eligible land will be ineligible for compensatory allowances; and farm businesses assessed to have more than the average non-agricultural income per labour unit will be ineligible for preferential rates of grant under the Farm Capital Grant Scheme—FCGS.—[Vol. 894, c.38.]
§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, how many farms, currently receiving hill farm subsidies or grants, will be ineligible for EEC grants and subsidies under the less favoured areas directive.
§ Mr. StrangSome 1,200 farms in the United Kingdom may be ruled ineligible for compensatory allowances because they have less than three hectares of eligible land. The number of farms ineligible for special rates of capital grants will vary from year to year depending on the relative levels of hill farm and non-agricultural incomes.
§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether there are any farmers, farming 688W land not zoned as hill land, who are currently receiving hill cow or hill sheep subsidies; and on what grounds these farms are receiving these payments.
§ Mr. StrangYes. About 100 farmers receive hill cow subsidy but no other hill subsidies or grants as a result of concessionary arrangements introduced in 1963. These arrangements followed from a comprehensive review of hill land in 1963 when land of livestock rearing quality in respect of which hill cow subsidy was being paid prior to the review ceased to be eligible hill land because it was found to be outside the re-determined area of mountains, hills or heath.
§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in the Official Report a table giving details, by region, of the number of farms that have been classified as being eligible for hill farm subsidies and grants; and the number of farms in respect of which applications for either hill farm subsidies or grants have been refused.
§ Mr. StrangIt would involve disproportionate work and cost to establish the number of cases in which land had been rejected for eligibility in recent years. However, some 23,000 farms now receive hill cow and hill sheep payments in England and Wales annually and some 6,000 annually receive capital grants.
§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether his Department produces maps that define those areas in which hill farms subsidies may be claimed;
(2) why he will not make available for inspection by farmers who wish to claim hill farm subsidies maps showing the areas in which hill farm subsidies may be claimed.
§ Mr. StrangThese maps have no statutory significance and whether or not a particular parcel of land would be eligible for hill subsidies depends not only on its location, but also on the quality of the land, which can be established only by inspection. These maps are on a variety of scales, some giving only an indication of the eligible area without showing whether or not particular parcels of land are eligible for hill subsidies. Other 689W more detailed maps do contain this information. Both categories could give an indication of an individual's eligibility and thus bear on his financial circumstances which are regarded as a confidential matter between each fanner and the Ministry. But should consultations with the representatives of those affected—that is, farmers and landowners—indicate a general desire for the present practice to be reviewed my right hon. Friend would be willing to consider this.
§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what criteria are now laid down by his Department for defining a hill farm for the purposes of deciding whether hill farm subsidies may be payable;
(2) what appeal procedure is available to a farmer who is refused a hill farm subsidy and who believes that his farm has been wrongly classified.
§ Mr. StrangFor the land to be eligible under the quality test we require to be satisfied that, in addition to being situated in an area consisting predominantly of mountain, hills or heath the land is, or by improvement could be made, suitable for the breeding, rearing and maintenance of sheep or cattle but not for the carrying on to any material extent of dairy farming, the production, to any material extent, of fat sheep or fat cattle or the production of crops in quantity materially greater than that necessary to feed the
£per head England Wales Scotland Steers Heifers Steers Heifers Steers Heifers 1972 … 80 73 Not available Not available 90 76 1973 … 90 82 120 90 105 93 1974 … 42 35 57 41 66 57 1975 … 88 76 125 87 117 92 NoteThe average ages of animals in this sample were 5–9 months in England, 6–12 months in Wales and 6–8 months in Scotland. These variations account in part for the differences in prices recorded in the three countries.
SourceMAFF and DAFS Market Information.