§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of claims under the over-30-months slaughter scheme for the period between 29 April and 25 May 1996 remain unresolved. [123435]
§ Ms QuinIn July 1999, the Agricultural Departments put in place arrangements for the Intervention Board Executive Agency to make ex gratia payments in respect of certain bovine animals, referred to as "Early Casualty Cases". These were casualty animals requiring emergency slaughter on welfare grounds, and which could not be presented onto the Over-30-months Slaughter Scheme between 29 April and 24 May (9 June in Scotland) 1996 solely due to the limited casualty processing facilities then available under the scheme.
Applications for Early Casualty Case payment were invited during the period 23 July to 31 August 1999. The Intervention Board received claims for payment on 132 animals put down during the relevant period in 1996, and a written response has been provided to each of these. Therefore, no cases remain unresolved.
Payment was made in respect of 115 animals. Eleven were found to be not payable, and six did not respond to requests for further information.
§ Mr. HurstTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what payments were made under the over-30-months scheme in each month during the past two years. [123411]
§ Ms QuinThe number of animals slaughtered under the OTMS and the amounts of compensation paid in each month over the period are set out in the table. It is not possible to relate directly the compensation paid to the number of animals slaughtered in any month mainly because payments are generally made up to five weeks after the date of slaughter. Apart from the compensation payments, expenditure totalling about £115 million in 1998–99 and £130 million in 1999–2000 was incurred for services such as slaughtering, rendering, incineration, storage and transport.
165W
Year Animals Slaughtered Compensation paid (£000) 1998–99 April 63,154 17,058 May 66,980 18,593 June 46,422 17,469 July 53,341 15,030 August 59,063 13,705 September 84,996 21,280 October 100,665 23,282 November 110,831 26,500
Year Animals slaughtered Compensation paid (£000) December 99,073 33,030 January 94,287 22,972 February 70,958 28,938 March 70,092 25,948 1999–20001 April 70,658 16,769 May 60,347 18,489 June 64,213 17,835 July 60,981 16,007 August 65,758 17,723 September 84,743 15,662 October 104,612 25,504 November 127,187 27,391 December 96,509 23,454 January 99,637 26,471 February 88,452 30,988 March 83,247 28,626 1 Provisional