HC Deb 11 January 1994 vol 235 cc54-7W
Mr. Tipping

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many holdings in each county of England have taken up the arable area payments scheme;

(2) how many hectares have been taken up under the arable area payments scheme in its first year of operation for (a) cereals, (b) oilseeds, (c) proteins, (d) linseed, (e) simplified scheme and (f) set aside in the county of Nottinghamshire; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Jack

County-based figures will be published as soon as possible and I will place a copy in the Library of the House.

Mr. Tipping

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many landowners in England are receiving annual payments under the arable area payments scheme(a) in each £25,000 band up to £500,000 and (b) over £500,000; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Jack

This information can currently be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Tipping

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many holdings there are in each

County Holdings with
Cereals Potatoes Linseed Sugar beet Horticultural produce Oil seed rape
Bedfordshire 691 183 87 28 344 252
Berkshire 292 24 76 0 83 89
Buckinghamshire 682 39 75 0 136 262
Cleveland 260 45 8 0 27 120
Cambridgeshire 2,575 1,063 368 1,407 922 619
Cheshire 1,120 608 18 19 324 104
Cornwall 2,126 777 133 10 697 54
Cumbria 1,406 344 4 0 117 17
Derbyshire 1,030 298 17 17 143 196
Devon 2,921 684 188 6 627 65
Dorset 672 69 103 1 221 58
Durham 789 142 50 0 59 343
Essex 1,763 398 380 219 868 805
Gloucestershire 1,005 173 227 11 380 278
Hampshire 850 148 274 1 514 247
Isle of Wight 133 38 47 0 75 36
Hereford and Worcester 2,408 828 116 277 1,329 336
Hertfordshire 553 48 103 6 195 255
Kent 1,280 353 374 3 1,451 464
Lancashire 659 509 10 29 936 78
Leicestershire 1,362 171 157 45 130 485
Lincolnshire 3,979 1,786 626 2,034 2,053 1,244
Merseyside 239 143 7 20 177 36
Greater London 71 12 12 0 138 28
Norfolk 3,285 1,098 557 2,367 1,374 349
Northamptonshire 1,044 79 173 25 94 532
Tyne and Wear 139 22 13 0 25 73
Northumberland 1,079 105 55 0 66 435
Nottinghamshire 1,260 366 209 392 225 487
Oxfordshire 1,034 105 234 6 158 433
Avon 415 113 35 0 194 56
Shropshire 1,940 539 75 438 205 168
Somerset 1,242 330 114 20 522 94
Staffordshire 1,047 355 58 108 235 162
Suffolk 2,279 392 415 967 713 612
Isles of Scilly 0 28 0 0 52 0
Surrey 229 25 77 0 280 68
East Sussex 476 74 154 0 294 119
West Sussex 513 81 168 0 508 165
Warwickshire 1,118 246 116 8 187 366
Greater Manchester 192 99 1 8 153 31
Wiltshire 1,046 119 258 5 175 322
West Midlands 150 69 1 8 65 27
North Yorkshire 686 233 154 98 114 234
South Yorkshire 3,783 1,260 425 889 410 1,045
West Yorkshire 506 195 41 32 225 165
Humberside 2,412 771 378 658 759 1,010
1 Data suppressed to prevent disclosure of information about individual holdings.

Source: June 1992 Agricultural and Horticultural Census, MAFF (excludes estimates for minor holdings).

Mr. Tipping

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many hectares were taken up in each county of England in 1992 and 1993 by(a) cereals, (b) potatoes, (c) linseed, (d) sugar beet, (e) horticultural produce and (f) oilseeds.

Area of crops (ha)
Country Cereals Potatoes Linseed Sugar beet Horticultural produce Oilseed rape
Bedfordshire 47,580 691 1,922 492 2,077 8,803
Berkshire 29,001 107 2,111 0 433 4,299
Buckinghamshire 41,762 132 1,597 0 508 7,666
Cleveland 13,102 149 108 0 47 2,569
Cambridgeshire 153,531 11,349 6,182 23,149 10,201 19,422

county of England in 1992 and 1993 growing (a) cereals, (b) potatoes, (c) linseed, (d) sugar beet, (e) horticultural produce and (f) oilseeds.

Mr. Jack

The following table gives the requested information for 1992. Data from the June 1993 agricultural and horticultural census are not yet available by county.

Mr. Jack

The following table gives the requested information for 1992. Data from the June 1993 agricultural and horticultural census are not yet available by county.

Country Cereals Potatoes Linseed Sugar beet Horticultural produce Oilseed rape
Cheshire 23,984 4,418 402 175 1,154 1,714
Cornwall 37,982 4,052 1,933 104 2,808 927
Cumbria 20,772 553 52 0 221 318
Derbyshire 29,687 1,013 416 331 606 3,712
Devon 58,164 1,554 2,345 56 1,905 1,342
Dorset 46,447 274 2,909 1 606 2,104
Durham 35,496 865 710 0 140 7,014
Essex 143,983 5,464 6,808 4,246 5,668 25,733
Gloucestershire 58,814 844 6,195 177 1,554 8,454
Hampshire 88,601 835 7,692 1 3,419 8,902
Isle of Wight 7,152 272 887 0 360 1,132
Hereford and Worcester 82,126 7,649 1,492 4,531 9,647 6,346
Hertfordshire 52,472 378 2,340 171 390 8,957
Kent 77,170 4,056 7,495 2 21,823 16,005
Lancashire 16,198 2,719 142 308 5,303 1,136
Leicestershire 78,520 1,262 3,389 963 623 13,315
Lincolnshire 273,449 17,530 13,158 33,913 36,453 35,459
Merseyside 8,560 894 48 208 1,134 472
Greater London 3,540 98 173 0 713 703
Norfolk 200,235 14,025 11,341 57,557 22,418 8,948
Northamptonshire 81,374 794 3,475 405 218 18,558
Tyne and Wear 6,405 69 161 0 108 1,609
Northumberland 75,594 1,058 1,091 0 450 11,601
Nottinghamshire 73,235 5,535 4,343 8,276 2,417 11,277
Oxfordshire 89,697 791 5,350 118 913 15,569
Avon 13,417 211 457 0 404 1,049
Shropshire 79,514 7,701 1,016 10,057 938 3,380
Somerset 38,305 1,708 1,399 365 2,344 1,716
Staffordshire 40,578 4,071 941 2,432 1,384 3,307
Suffolk 158,367 5,437 7,572 23,541 11,828 16,475
Isles of Scilly 0 27 0 0 173 0
Surrey 9,928 81 1,574 0 1,195 1,748
East Sussex 21,541 296 3,510 0 1,444 2,962
West Sussex 34,091 977 3,886 0 1,635 5,032
Warwickshire 58,674 2,354 2,665 167 1,367 10,398
Greater Manchester 5,442 508 1 45 882 435
Wiltshire 93,286 639 6,505 98 589 10,027
West Midlands 4,968 349 1 182 310 625
South Yorkshire 32,679 1,640 3,830 1,855 792 4,691
North Yorkshire 187,990 12,083 5,728 12,522 2,498 18,660
West Yorkshire 20,926 1,075 491 406 1,083 3,023
Humberside 167,952 8,483 5,202 9,387 12,919 23,487
1 Data suppressed to prevent disclosure of information about individual holdings.

Source: June 1992 Agricultural and Horticultural Census, MAFF (excludes estimates for minor holdings).

Mr. Tipping

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what monitoring is conducted of the arable area payments scheme; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Jack

It is not Government policy to publish specific information about monitoring arrangements, as that could seriously hamper effective enforcement. However, a number of techniques are used to monitor compliance with the scheme, including detailed checks of area aid applications and field inspections.