§ Lord Grenfellasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have made in meeting the service delivery targets set out in Commitment to Service.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue)The table below sets out the performance achieved by Regional Service Centres against the targets set inCommitment to Service, second edition.
RSC performance data (%) for financial year 1996/97 (unless otherwise specified) Total Arable Area Payments Scheme Main payments 99 Oilseeds Advanced payments 99 Final payments 99 Beef Special Premium Scheme Advance payments (1996) 98 Balance payments (1995) 99 CID applications issued (1996) 99 Premium paid CIDs issued (1996) 99 Suckler Cow Premium Scheme Balance payments 1995 99 Advance payments 1996 99 Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances Claims 1996 97 Sheep Annual Premium Scheme Claims marketing year 1996 (See 1. Below) 97 Agricultural Improvement Scheme Plan claims 100 Environmentally Sensitive Areas Applications 97 Claims 99 Environmentally Sensitive Areas Conservation Plan Applications 97 Claims 98 Farm & Conservation Grant Scheme 1989 Plan claims 99 Non-plan claims (See 2. Below) 58 Farm & Conservation Grant Scheme 1991 Plan claims 97 Farm Woodland Premium Scheme Applications 94 Claims (1996) 99 Injurious Weeds Complaints 99 Pilot Nitrate Sensitive Areas Scheme Claims (1996) 100 New Nitrate Sensitive Areas Scheme Applications (1996) 93 Claims 98 Protection of Badgers Act 1992 Licence applications 99 Five Year Set Aside Scheme Claims 100 Strychnine Permits Applications 97 Agricultural Wage Inspections Complaints 91 Wildlife & Countryside Act Licence applications 98 Correspondence Answered within 10 working days 97 Complaints Numbers receiving response within 10 working days 88 Footnotes
1. Final payments made by 30 April 1997.
2. The relatively high failure rate for F&CGS 1989 non-plan claims is due to a large number of claims being received in the month before the scheme closed, making it impossible to meet the charter target in many cases.
General Notes:
(i) The total percentage has been calculated by setting the entire number of applications or claims cleared within the target time, against the total number received. Applications and claims not cleared due to reasons beyond our control (incorrect information supplied by applicant, etc.) are not included as failures to meet target.
(ii) The Farm & Conservation Grant Scheme (1991) Plan applications, the Farm Diversification Grant Scheme (Capital Items) Claims, and the Farm Diversification Grant Scheme (Feasibility & Marketing) Claims have all been omitted from the table, as the numbers involved are de-minimis.
(iii) 3 complaints were referred to the MAFF Adjudicator during the year. 2 of these complaints were resolved, the other was referred to the Minister. 1 complaint from a previous year has been referred to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and is currently under investigation.