§ Mr. Welshasked the Secretary of State of Scotland what is the average time taken for applicants to gain full approval for: (a) stage I and (b) stage II of an 1049W application for farm and horticultural development scheme grants; and if he is satisfied with those grant approval procedures.
§ Mr. Hugh D. BrownOne hundred and eighty-three applications to join the farm and horticulture development scheme were approved in July of this year in an average period of three weeks. In the same month 20 development plans were approved in an average period of about 11 weeks.
Procedures for dealing with applications have recently been revised and are being kept under review, but in a scheme essentially concerned with long-term planning, the adequate examination of proposals inevitably takes some time.