§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what proportion of UK farmers received European Community grants of over(a) £100,000 and (b) £500,000 per annum in each of the last five years; [73980]
(2) what proportion of UK farmers received European Union grants of under £10,000 per annum in each of the last five years; [73864]
(3) what proportion of UK farmers do not receive European Union grants. [73865]
578W
§ Mr. MorleyThe following table gives the numbers of addresses in England to which the specified levels of direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have been made in the last three years. Earlier figures are not readily available. We cannot estimate precisely the number of farmers who do not receive payments. The payment of CAP grants in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the devolved authorities. Farmers may also have received European Union grants under non-agricultural programmes.
Address to which payment was made of £100,000 to CAP Financial Year £1 to £99,999 £499,999 Over £500,000 1998–1999 63589 61 3 1999–2000 58238 1933 34 2000–2001 63497 1822 29
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total sum of grants by the European Union to farmers was in(a) the UK and (b) other EU member states in the last year for which figures are available. [73859]
§ Mr. MorleyThe United Kingdom received €4,058.9 million from the European Union under the Common Agricultural Policy during its 2000 financial year. The other Member States received the following:
Country Euro (millions) Austria 1,018.5 Belgium 954.7 Denmark 1,305 Finland 727.5 France 8,982.2 Germany 5,641.7 Greece 2,597.1 Holland 1,396.5 Ireland 1,678.3 Italy 5,031.1 Luxembourg 20.6 Portugal 651.9 Spain 5,469.3 Sweden 798 These figures include both direct aid and market support. Nearly all of the direct aid will have gone to farmers. Much of the market support expenditure will in the first instance have been paid to traders.