§ 30. John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of how many forms her Department required on average a farmer in England to fill out in 2001; and what efforts are being made to reduce this. [46540]
§ Mr. MorleyIt is not possible to make such an assessment. The number of forms completed by farmers depends on the nature and size of individual enterprises. As far as statistical forms are concerned, in 2001 more than half of the main holdings in England received no forms and the average number of forms issued to the other 68,638 holdings was 1.39. Only 319 holdings received more than four forms during the year and of the 95,125 survey forms issued more than one third were in respect of voluntary surveys. Many of the forms the Department issues to farmers relate to particular schemes such as CAP subsidy and rural development schemes. The number will vary widely depending on which schemes they participate in.
The Department is committed to reducing paperwork. Electronic forms for IACS applications have already been introduced. The Government's Regulatory Reform Action Plan published in February contained a number of measures which will reduce the burden for farmers. These include for example enabling livestock producers to 1062W submit electronic claims for livestock premium schemes and removing unnecessary duplication of information. In the longer term the possibility of a whole farm approach to regulation should enable information required in forms to be rationalised.