HC Deb 06 February 1996 vol 271 cc138-9W
Mr. Thomason

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what changes are proposed in his Department's cash limits for 1995–96. [14223]

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Parliamentary approval is being sought for a supplementary estimate for class III, vote 3—Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: operational expenditure—during which the cash limit will be increased by £6,385,000 from £402,545,000 to £408,930,000. Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit will then be reduced by £4,672,000 from £408,930,000 to £404,258,000. Within this provision, the cash limit will be reduced by £1,622,000 as a result of a transfer to vote 4, by a transfer of £2,600,000 to the Office of Science and Technology to cover the cost of redundancies arising among staff of the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council seconded to Horticulture Research International and by a transfer of £450,000 to the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland for the decommissioning of nephrops vessels.

In addition, vote 3—operational expenditure—will be reduced by a further £1,877,000 from £404,258,000 to £402,381,000. This is a result of a transfer to class III non-voted expenditure on supplementary credit approvals.

£ million
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 11995–96 21996–97 21997–98
FCGS3 22.90 29.60 28.50 28.00 21.00 11.00 4.00 3.00
Moorland scheme — — — — — — 0.35 0.23
Habitat scheme — — — — — 0.95 2.00 3.00
Countryside access scheme — — — — — 0.05 42.50 42.50
ESAs5 7.45 7.76 10.87 16.55 20.10 30.5 32.77 37.69
FWPS6 — — — 0.66 1.46 2.05 4.53 5.88
NSAs7 8 0.30 1.00 1.40 1.50 1.50 3.70 6.10 7.60
Organic aid scheme — — — — 0.03 0.27 0.46 0.96
Countryside stewardship — 0.16 3.82 8.30 10.80 11.26 12.22 17.22
1 1995–96 figures are estimates.
21996–97 and 1997–98 figures are PES provisions.
3 FCGS—farm and conservation grant scheme.
4 Figures are subject to review.
5ESAs—environmentally sensitive areas.
6 FWPS—farm woodland premium scheme.
7 NSAs—nitrate sensitive areas.
8 Includes expenditure under the pilot NSA scheme.