§ Mr. WelshTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what acreage has been put into regeneration of the natural habitat in hill farming; and if he will evaluate the effect this will have on hill farm incomes.
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 24 November 1994]: The environmentally sensitive areas scheme includes provisions for annual payments to farmers for the regeneration of heather moorland and other upland habitats. Some 16,000 hectares of land are being managed under those tiers of the scheme in England. Other schemes also provide assistance to hill farmers for habitat enhancement but it is not possible to quantify the area of land benefiting from those schemes. It is not possible to isolate the effect which any of these measures will have on hill farm incomes.