HC Deb 20 March 1990 vol 169 cc572-3W
Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what financial resources are presently devoted to each environmentally sensitive area in England and Wales; and what is the annual expenditure on the scheme.

Mr. Maclean

Total payments to farmers throughout the United Kingdom under the environmentally sensitive areas schemes (ESAs) in the financial year 1989–90 is forecast to be £12.6 million. The total costs of agreements signed by 31 December 1989 in individual ESAs in England and Wales are:

£
England
Broads 1,741,000
Pennine Dales 946,000
Somerset Levels and Moors 814,000
South Downs 578,000
West Penwith 340,000
Breckland 457,000
North Peak 687,000
Shropshire Borders 555,000
Suffolk River Valleys 871,000
Test Valey 26,000
Wales
Cambrian Mountains 646,000
Lleyn Peninsula 249,000

Total financial resources devoted to the schemes are a combination of payments to farmers and administration costs. The latter, which include a substantial element attributable to ADAS advice, cannot be calculated separately for each ESA without disproportionate effort.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many of his Department's and Agricultural Development Advisory Service staff are allocated to each environmentally sensitive area in England and Wales; and what is the total staff allocation for the scheme nationally.

Mr. Curry

None of our staff is wholly allocated to a specific environmentally sensitive area. Details of the total manpower expected to be deployed (in man years) in 1989–90 is shown in the table:

MAFF Unit ESAs Designated in Region Man years Admin Man years ADAS
Eastern Region The Broads Suffolk River Valleys Breckland 5.9 12.5
Midland and Western Region North Peak1 Shropshire Borders 3.2 10.3
Northern Region North Peak1 Pennine Dales 3.2 10.9

MAFF Unit ESAs Designated in Region Man years Admin Man years ADAS
South East Region South Downs Test Valley 3.5 8.9
South West Region West Penwith Somerset Levels and Moors 6.4 10.5
Wales Lleyn peninsula Cambrian Mountains 2 11.2
Sub-total 22.2 64.3
Headquarters aspects of all ESAs 6.0 4.7
Total 28.2 69.0
1 The North Peak ESA is administered by two MAFF regions.
2 Administrative staff in Wales are the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Wales.