§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of participating farms have received a site inspection after acceptance on to the set-aside scheme; and how many of these site inspections have revealed breaches of(a) the set-aside regulations and (b) the guidelines for the management of fallow land.
§ Mr. CurryThe Community set-aside rules require member states to inspect a minimum of 5 per cent. of holdings on which land is being set aside under the scheme. It is not departmental policy to indicate the expected or achieved levels and inspection in the interests of proper enforcement. Information on the results of inspections in the first year of the scheme is not yet available.
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§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many farmers indicated on their set-aside application forms that they had(a) applied for and (b) obtained planning permission for land entered under the non-agricultural use option of the set-aside scheme.
§ Mr. CurryApplicants for set-aside are not required to give this information. However, the scheme literature draws attention to the requirement to obtain planning permission before the land is used for certain nonagricultural purposes.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what area and what percentage of land set aside in each county in 1989 falls within less-favoured areas; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CurryThe information is available by MAFF division but not by county. It is as follows:
Division in which LFA land has been set-aside Area of LFA land set-aside (hectares) Percentage of Division total of set-aside land Carlisle 15.4 12.7 Newcastle 561.7 47.3 Northallerton 50.5 3.3 Truro 25.7 6.0 Taunton 14.8 1.5 Note: The information relates to 1989 entrants only and is provisional.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his latest estimate of the reduction in the 1989 United Kingdom cereal harvest due to the operation of the set-aside scheme.
§ Mr. CurryThe area of arable land set aside in the 1988–89 season represented about 1.2 per cent. of the United Kingdom arable area. The effect on the cereal harvest depends on assessments of what crop would otherwise have been grown on the land concerned and what the yield per hectare would have been. I shall be able to form a better view on this matter when I have the results of an evaluation of the scheme which has been commissioned by my Department from Reading university.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the impact of the set-aside scheme on agricultural employment in 1988 and 1989; and what is his estimate for 1990.
§ Mr. CurryLevels of employment in agriculture are influenced by a number of factors, of which the existence of the set-aside scheme is only one. I will be in a position to form a judgment on the employment effects of set-aside when I have the results of an evaluation of the scheme being carried out which has been commissioned by my Department from Reading university.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of land in the non-agricultural use option of the set-aside scheme is being used for enterprises connected with(a) tourism, (b) recreation and (c) leisure.
§ Mr. CurryThe information is not available in the form requested. The information I have suggests that the majority of the land set aside to non-agricultural purposes is being used for horse-based activities, golf courses and sports fields.
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§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will produce a breakdown by county of the number of participating farms and total set-aside areas for the second year of the scheme and options chosen per county for both years of the scheme.
§ Mr GummerThe table shows a breakdown by English county of 1989 entrants and figures of United Kingdom uptake for 1989 compared with that for 1988. Information on land use options is not available broken down by county, but overall percentages for the two years are given in the table.
(a) Breakdown of 1989 entrants into set-aside scheme by English county County Number of participants farms Total area set-aside (hectares) Average area per farm (hectares) Avon 13 384.75 29.60 Bedfordshire 31 1,125.00 36.29 Berkshire 21 1,152.43 54.88 Buckinghamshire 53 2,063.95 38.94 Cambridgeshire 48 1,695.00 35.31 Cheshire 11 207.67 18.88 Cleveland 3 59.34 19.78 Cornwall 18 421.48 23.42 Cumbria 6 120.07 20.01 Derbyshire 11 143.42 13.04 Devonshire 30 820.23 27.34 Dorset 18 467.64 25.98 Durham 6 297.67 49.61 Essex 65 2,346.45 36.10 Gloucestershire 38 2,526.73 66.49 Greater London 1 26.32 26.32 Greater Manchester 3 62.04 20.68
(b) United Kingdom uptake of the set-aside scheme distributed by country No. of farms Hectares of land set-aside 1988 entrants 1989 entrants Cumulative total 1988 entrants 1989 entrants Cumulative total England 1,327 1,157 2,484 41,175 46,379 87,554 Scotland 374 172 546 12,617 8,567 21,184 Wales 31 11 42 701 413 1,114 Northern Ireland 14 10 24 137 72 209 Total United Kingdom 1,746 1,350 3,096 54,630 55,431 110,061 Note: Figures are provisional.
(c) Percentage of set-aside land used for the different land use options: United Kingdom figures. Percentage of total area set aside by entrants in each year 1988 entrants 1989 entrants Permanent fallow 79 80 Rotational fallow 12 7 Woodland 2 2 Non-agricultural use 7 11