HC Deb 11 July 1991 vol 194 cc474-5W
Dr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 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 region in 1991.

Mr. Michael Forsyth

The information is set out in the table:

1Region Number of Farms Area set aside (ha) Average area/farm (ha)
Borders 37 2,261 61.1
Central 19 709 37.3
Dumfries and Galloway, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles2 9 104 11.6
Fife 20 1,269 63.5
Grampian 337 10,796 32.0
Highland 50 2,240 44.8
Lothian 18 1,327 73.7
Strathclyde 37 665 18.0
Tayside 90 3,662 40.7
Scotland 617 23,033 37.3

1 Information is provisional pending the processing of the 1990–91 set-aside claims.
2 Data for these regions have been grouped together for reasons of confidentiality.

Dr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the uptake of the set-aside scheme in(a) the number of farms and (b) the area of land set aside in hectares for 1990–91.

Mr. Michael Forsyth

In 1989–90, the second year of the set-aside scheme, a cumulative total of 498 farms in Scotland set aside 18,840 hectares of land. This increased in 1990–91, to 617 farms setting aside 23,033 hectares.