§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the total agrimoney available that is likely to be lost if it is not claimed by the end of April. [HL612]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Hayman)We expect the Commission to notify us of the amount of agrimonetary compensation available later this month. Initial estimates suggest that it could be of the order of £200 million across the beef, sheep, dairy, arable and sugar sectors. These estimates should be treated with caution as they are based on 1999 claim data, and the relevant data on market prices in 2000 are not yet available. If these estimates are correct, and the full amount were paid, the cost to the UK taxpayer would be around £170 million.