§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many individual farmers or landowners receive annually in hill livestock compensatory allowance payments more than £25,000, £50,000, £100,000 and £200,000.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonThe information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the total loss to United Kingdom farmers of limiting hill livestock compensatory allowance payments to 90 livestock units; and at what stock level a farmer would be less well off under such a restriction than under the present system.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonIf HLCA payments to producers were limited to 90 livestock units per holding, we estimate that the total loss to United Kingdom farmers would be about £30 million per year under the existing588W scheme arrangements. The producers disadvantaged by any such limitation would be those with more than 90 beef cows or 600 breeding ewes (or a combination of cows and ewes in excess of 90 livestock units). Producers below these limits would be unaffected.