§ Mr. JackTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to be able to make each of the three payments under the sheep annual premium scheme; and for what reasons no first payments have yet been made of the premium for 1998. [51926]
Dr. John CunninghamPayment of the first advance of the 1998 Sheep Annual Premium is underway (in line with the normal timetable of recent years) and will be completed next month. The second advance should be paid during November and the final balances in April 1999. The European Commission sets the rates for each of the three payments and individual payments to farmers cannot be made until those rates have been published in EU Regulations.