§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what funding his Department has allocated in the current year for the operation of agri-environment schemes; and if he will make a statement on the operation of the schemes. [15209]
§ Mr. BoswellThe 1995 public expenditure survey provision allocated a total of £76.3 million to the operation of agri-environment schemes in England for 1996–97. Of this total, £60.6 million was for payments to land managers, £12.5 million was for running costs and £3.2 million was for monitoring costs.
The agri-environment programme provides a wide range of voluntary incentive schemes to encourage environmentally beneficial fanning practices. The Ministry carries out a monitoring programme to measure the success of each scheme and the detailed results of these are published. Schemes will normally be evaluated and reviewed every five years to assess the extent to which policy objectives are being achieved and the efficiency with which schemes are being administered. For example, the five stage I environmentally sensitive areas underwent their second five-yearly policy review in 1996. Results of a comprehensive programme of environmental monitoring have shown the schemes to be successful. A public consultation exercise detailing proposals for improvements to the scheme was conducted as part of the review and, as a result, several new tiers and options have recently been introduced.
The schemes are kept under review and consultation arrangements have recently been expanded at both national and local level to ensure that we get the best out of our schemes.
The Agriculture Select Committee is nearing the conclusion of its inquiry into the Ministry's agri-environment schemes and I look forward to receipt of its report.