§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will provide a breakdown of the cost of(a) settling the dispute between her Department and the Public and Commercial Services Union and (b) charges by the European Union for not meeting (i) foot and mouth compensation and (ii) other support payments. [16588]
§ Mr. Morley(a) A breakdown of the cost of settling the dispute between the Department and the Public and Commercial Services Union cannot be given because this depends on funding and the outcome of negotiations with the union.
(b) (i) There should be no charge by the European Union in respect of foot and mouth compensation as there are no deadlines for payment. The dispute has not delayed foot and mouth payments.
(ii) The main impact of the industrial action so far on other CAP support payments is that many of them will be made later in the regulatory payment 'window' than would otherwise have been the case. The extent to which payments may fall outside of the window cannot be predicted since it depends on the course which the industrial action takes and the success of mitigating action being taken by my Department to ensure that delays are kept to the minimum. To date no charges have been imposed by the European Union as a result of delays caused by the industrial action.