§ Lord Gordon of Strathblaneasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many pig farmers were offered aid under the Outgoers 1 scheme, and on what basis tenders were assessed. [HL1945]
§ Baroness HaymanThe Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme (PIRS)—Outgoers closed for applications on 2 March, and all applicants were informed of their success or otherwise on 23 March. There were a total of 1,237 bids in the UK as a whole (England 650, Northern Ireland 510, Scotland 53, Wales 24). A total of 205,327 sow places were offered, greatly exceeding the target of 120,000 sow places.
As was made clear from the beginning, successful bids under PIRS—Outgoers would be assessed on a value for money basis. To achieve this, bids were assessed using a value for money criterion agreed by MAFF and the devolved authorities in advance of opening the bids. This was done in order to avoid any accusations of manipulating the criterion to achieve a specific result.
The criterion defined what would be judged as value for money in terms of cost per sow place. It was agreed that bids greater than 125 per cent of the average (the top 10 per cent and bottom 10 per cent of tenders were removed while calculating the average figure) tender bid in terms of f per sow place would be rejected. The highest tender to be accepted was calculated at £237 per sow place, giving a maximum payment of £142 per sow place (the full 60 per cent allowable was paid to successful applicants).
The final result of PIRS—Outgoers was a total of 432 accepted bids (England 315, Northern Ireland 87, Scotland 20. Wales 10), with an average tender of f 185 per sow place (average payment of £111 per sow place). A total of £10.6 million has been offered to the successful applicants.
Payments are now being made to the first claims under PIRS—Outgoers from successful applicants.