§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much has been spent on the United Kingdom set-aside scheme for each year since 1989–90; what are his estimates for 1992–93 and 1993–94; and what account in these estimates has been taken of the agreements reached at the Agriculture Council meeting in May.
§ Mr. CurryThe table shows the actual amounts paid to United Kingdom participants in the 1989–90 and 1990–91 financial years and the estimates of payments to be made in the period 1991–92 to 1993–94. The estimates do not take account of the agreement reached at the Agriculture Council meeting in May.
442W
Financial years £ million 1989–90 19.84 1990–91 119.11 1991–92 2227.92
Financial years £ million 1992–93 2249.37 1993–94 2248.91 1 Actual. 2 Estimated.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the results of inspections his Ministry has carried out on the set-aside scheme including(a) the number of farms visited and (b) the percentage visited of the total in set-aside; and how many breaches of regulation have been identified, for each year of the scheme.
§ 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 of inspection in the interests of proper enforcement. In the United Kingdom, in the first year of the scheme, significant irregularities were found on 2 per cent. of the holdings inspected.
§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the arrangements for the five-year set-aside scheme in 1991–92; and whether he will allow the use of set-aside land to grow non-food crops.
§ Mr. GummerThe five-year set-aside scheme will be open to new applications from 1 August 1991. The only changes to the rules of the existing scheme will be to provide for the partial refund of cereals coresponsibility levy paid between 31 July 1991 and 30 June 1992 to set-aside participants. The refund is expected (subject to detailed Commission rules) to amount to £2.68 per tonne. Application forms and explanatory booklets will be available from local divisional offices at the end of this month. These forms must be returned by 30 September 1991.
I have consulted interested bodies on the EC regulations permitting member states to permit the growing of cereals for non-food uses on set-aside land. In the light of that consultation and the report to the House of Lords by the Select Committee on European Communities (Sub-Committee D) on non-food uses of agricultural products I have concluded that we should not introduce such a scheme in the United Kingdom. I will, however, continue to keep the possibility under review.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will list the uptake of the set-aside scheme, including the number of farms and the area of land set aside in hectares in England in 1990 and 1991;
(2) if he will list the numbers of farms, the numbers of hectares and the average area per farm in hectares which are in the set-aside scheme in each county in 1991;
(3) what amount of land in (a) hectares and (b) percentage terms in set-aside was used for different land use options in 1990 and 1991.
§ Mr. GummerI refer the hon. Member to the press release dated 17 December 1990, which is available in the Library of the House.