§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 22 November 2001,Official Report, column 422W, on industrial action, if she will list the level of payments by category that have been delayed since the dispute began. [19905]
§ Mr. MorleyThe major impact of industrial action has been on the arable area payments scheme where normally around 60–70 per cent. of payments are made in the first two or three weeks of the payment window, which runs from 16 November to 31 January. This year the figure is expected to be a little over 50 per cent.
On the livestock schemes the industrial action has had minimal impact. To date industrial action has had limited impact on payments on England Rural Development Plan (ERDP) schemes, some targets on service standards are likely to be missed.