§ Mr. SpellarTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress towards the implementation of agricultural measures under objective 1 status.
§ Mr. AncramThe agriculture measures under Northern Ireland's objective 1 status are contained in the sub-programme for agriculture, fisheries and rural development–SPARD–a constituent part of the Northern Ireland single programming document, which was approved by the European Commission in July 1994.
Some aspects of the sub-programme are support measures, such as hill livestock compensatory allowances, and expenditure on these has been ongoing throughout 1994. The capital grants and farm innovation schemes opened for applications on 14 November 1994. The processing and marketing grants for agricultural products has not yet opened for applications as the Northern Ireland
Per cent. Board 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 Northern 11.5 11.0 11.0 11.1 16.8 Southern 10.7 10.7 10.8 12.4 11.9 Eastern 14.6 13.4 12.3 12.9 13.9 Western 14.4 14.6 15.1 15.8 10.2 (1) Expenditure figures for 1993–94 are not yet available.
(2) Expenditure figures for the provision of child care services used to calculate the above percentage figures do not include Administration or Fieldwork costs.
(3) The financial reporting arrangements of Boards were revised in 1992–93 to accommodate the Health Service reforms. It is therefore difficult to meaningfully compare the 1992–93 percentage figures with those of previous years.
914Wsectoral plan has still to be approved by the European Commission.