§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research her Department has commissioned on the implications of Common Agricultural Policy reform; and when she next plans to meet her European Union counterparts to discuss Common Agricultural Policy reform. [184007]
§ Alun MichaelDefra commissioned several analyses of the likely impacts of the reform proposals before they were agreed, to help inform the Government's negotiating position. In addition analysis of the redistribution of subsidy and other effects arising from implementation of the Single Payment Scheme in England was carried out in-house. These studies are all published on Defra's website. A programme to monitor and evaluate the CAP reforms is also being put in place. This will include a CAP Environmental Observatory to monitor the environmental impacts of changing farm practices and production levels, and a project to analyse the economic linkages of the agricultural industry, including the Single Payment Scheme, with the wider rural economy.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, met her European counterparts at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 19 July, where she set out the UK's views on reform of the CAP sugar regime and on 124W proposals to review the EU's Rural Development Regulation—an increasingly important element of the CAP.