§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many farmers in Wales received environmentally sensitive area payments greater than(a) £100,000, (b) £50,000, (c) £10,000, (d) £5,000 or (e) £1,000 in the last year for which figures are available. [20001]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe total number of farmers in Wales in 1994–95 who received environmentally sensitive area payments in each band is as follows:
Number (a) 0 (b) 2 (c) 29 (d) 30 (e) 190 In addition, 501 scheme participants received payments of less than £1,000.
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what amount of environmentally sensitive area grant budget for 1994–95 is still uncommitted(a) in cash and (b) as a percentage of the budget: and if he will make a statement on underspending in the environmentally sensitive areas budget for 1993–94 and 1994–95. [20000]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesExpenditure in 1994–95 was £1,533,000 or 22 per cent. of the total budget of £6,863,000.
Five new areas were launched in Wales during 1994, bringing the total number of designations in Wales to eight. I expect expenditure in Wales to increase as more farmers enter the new schemes.