HC Deb 27 October 1993 vol 230 cc659-60W
Mr. Tyler

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what will be the predicted effect on wild birds of the move to non-rotational set-aside.

Mr. Jack

Non-rotational set-aside if properly managed can deliver considerable benefits to wild birds. We have issued specific guidance on how to manage set-aside land (either non-rotational or rotational) for ground-nesting birds and for wildfowl. In addition, one of the specific management options open to farmers is for wild bird cover, which can be used to provide winter feeding grounds for birds as well as cover during the rest of the year. However, it should not be forgotten that rotational set-aside land can also provide valuable feeding grounds for wild birds.

Mr. Cox

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the present acreage of land that is now in set aside; and what money is being paid in grants to farmers whose land is now in set aside.

Mr. Jack

Around 90,000 hectares—218,000 acres—of land are currently entered into the five-year set-aside scheme. There is no land currently in set-aside under the arable area payments scheme, since the set-aside period for 1992–93 ended earlier this summer. Provisional United Kingdom figures for the amount of land set-aside under the scheme for 1992–93 are 555,632 hectares (1,372,411 acres).

Payment rates under the five-year set-aside scheme vary, depending on which scheme option the applicant has chosen, how much land has been entered into the scheme and when the applicant joined the scheme. The maximum current payment rate for the permanent fallow option is £222 per hectare (approximately £90 per acre).

Payment rates under the arable area payments scheme are calculated on the basis of regional yields and therefore vary in the different countries of the United Kingdom. The payment rate for set-aside in England for 1992–93 is expected to be £253 per hectare (approximately £102 per acre).