HC Deb 21 May 1999 vol 331 cc451-2W
Mr. Drew

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his Department's spending priorities for the remainder of the Comprehensive Spending Review period. [85432]

Mr. Nick Brown

In my written statement to the House on 27 October 1998,Official Report, columns 156–58, I set out the key financial implications of the CSR for MAFF. Since then there have been developments which have necessitated a reassessment of spending priorities in order to accommodate:

  1. (i) additional demands on the Department's budget which were not provided for in the CSR. These include the costs of the BSE inquiry and new policy initiatives like the proposed pet movement scheme; and
  2. (ii) the budgetary consequences of not being able to proceed with the sale of the new Convent Garden Market site. The CSR settlement assumed that we would sell this asset in 2000/01 and our capital allocation was adjusted accordingly. We will not be able to meet that timetable.

For the most part we have been able to accommodate the budgetary impact of these developments by making adjustments to the Department's own internal spending programmes. For example, we have been able to reprofile the expenditure on the new marine research vessel by delaying its construction by a few months. We have also found savings in the Department's capital building programme. And we are accelerating the disposal of unwanted assets in order to maximise receipts during the CSR period.

However, these measures alone are not sufficient to contain the pressures on the Department's budget. In order to keep spending within the limits set by the CSR, I regret that I am having to make the following economies in addition to those set out in my statement of 27 October:

  1. (i) further cuts of £2.0 million in 1999/2000, £2.0 million in 2000/01 and £3.0 million in 2001/02 in the Department's R&D budget. These cuts will put pressure on our research programmes and will require careful prioritisation. We shall be drawing up, and consulting widely on, a new strategy for R&D;
  2. (ii) a refocusing of the Department's land use planning work, which is carried out by the Farming and Rural Conservation Agency, to strengthen relationships with Government Offices, planning authorities and the Regional Development Agencies and integrate agricultural considerations (especially the implementation of the EU Rural Development Regulation) into wider Government policies affecting the rural economy and environment. This will produce annual net savings of about £1.0 million in 2000/01 and 2001/02;
  3. (iii) a reduction of £1.5 million in 2001/02 in the Department's grant-in-aid to the Environment Agency;
  4. (iv) closure of fisheries grant schemes. The schemes in question have been in place a long time: harbour grants since 1955 and marketing/ processing, port facilities and fishing vessel safety equipment grants since the late 1970s/early 1980s. They have served a valuable purpose and many have benefited from them over the years. However, in view of the pressures on the Department's budget the time has come to draw a line under these open-ended schemes. As of today, I am closing the harbour and fishing vessel safety equipment grants schemes to new applicants. There will be no further rounds of awards under the processing and marketing and port facilities grant schemes. In all cases, where commitments to funding have already been entered into they will be honoured.