§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the achievements of his Department and his policies in helping small businesses over the last 12 months relative to the previous 12 months; and if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.
§ Mr. CurryThe Government continue to place a high priority on helping small businesses, through improvements to the business climate, through deregulation and through specific programmes of support and assistance.
This Department has continued to contribute significantly to this process. The agreement reached in May 1992 on reform of the common agricultural policy reflected this Government's insistence that support policies under the CAP should increasingly be geared to the needs of the real market and establishes a framework for farmers to plan ahead. United Kingdom producers will particularly benefit from the Government's success in securing the removal from the package of the elements in the original proposals which would have discriminated against them. The measures agreed also ensure continuing support for those farming in some of our most difficult areas.
We are continuing to improve the opportunities for farmers to diversify into alternative income-generating activities by means of such schemes as the farm and conservation grant scheme, the farm diversification grant scheme, the farm woodland premium scheme and the environmentally sensitive areas scheme. There will also be scope for additional action arising from the agrienvironmental action programme agreed as part of the wider CAP reform package.
All the schemes operated by this Department are closely monitored. Reports on particular schemes are published from time to time.