The position is that in the period since 1 January 1997, £630 million has been paid to farmers under the various EU livestock and arable aid schemes of which £378 million relates to payments made under the 1997 schemes. The number of payments made to date in 1997 is 1,239,022 compared to a total of 1,010,029 payments made in the period 1 January to 31 December 1996. Apart from the normal premia and headage scheme payments, my Department has made 400,000 extra payments to date this year valued at £65 million under the various BSE and agri-monetary compensation schemes.
Payments under the 1997 disadvantaged areas headage schemes commenced on 28 September 1997 and, to date, 60 per cent of applicants have been paid £67.6 million; 50,161 cases were paid at 31 October representing more than 40 per cent of the applicants, a position comparable to that achieved in 1996. Payments under the 1997 arable aid scheme commenced on 16 October 1997 which is the earliest possible commencement date under EU regulations and £85 million was paid to 94 per cent of applicants within one week of commencement of payments. The position is that £89 million has been paid to 99 per cent of arable aid applicants. This compares with the position in 1996 when, at 23 October, one week after commencement of payment, only 2,000 applicants had been paid a total of £9.1 million. Advance payments under the 1997 special beef premium and suckler cow schemes commenced on 1 and 3 November 1997 respectively. The EU regulations governing payment under these schemes provide that payment cannot commence before 1 November and this year the regulations stipulate that only 60 per cent entitlement can be made by way of advance payment. In 1996 the regulations allowed for an advance payment of 80 per cent entitlement. To date, £79.6 million has been paid under the special beef and suckler cow premium schemes.
A major factor contributing to the payment in both 1996 and this year is the EU requirement for the introduction of computerised land parcel identification systems, LPIS. The original deadline for full implementation of the LPIS was 1 January 1996. This was later changed to 1 January 1997 because of the difficulties being experienced in implementing the system in many member states. The LPIS requires what is effectively a 100 per cent computerised check on all land parcels submitted by farmers on the area aid declarations. This ensures that farmers are not overclaiming on individual parcels of land or that two or more farmers are not claiming on the same land parcel. In 1997, area aid applications were issued to farmers on which were pre-printed the details of all land parcels submitted by those farmers in 1996. Maps showing the locations of the land parcels were also issued and farmers were advised to make whatever changes were required so that the information would reflect the position in 1997. Of the 135,000 area aid applications which were issued, 50,000 were returned with changes to the 1996 data. These changes have been re-digitised on the LPIS database.
It should also be noted that, this year, priority was accorded to making payments under the 1997 arable aid scheme in view of the very severe harvest conditions, to which Deputy Coveney referred, which affected some parts of the country. The prioritising of arable aid payments has had some impact on the delivery of payments under the 1997 disadvantaged areas headage schemes.
In view of the volume and the value of these payments and the fact that the vast bulk of the money comes directly from the EU, it is imperative to ensure there are control systems in place which conform with EU and national audit requirements. In 1995, the EU Commission published new regulations on the accreditation of paying agencies such as my Department. The regulations set out clear criteria relating to the levels of checks and controls, including on-farm inspections and office checks which must be in place. These controls must be capable of satisfying international audit standards and each paying agency's accounts are now audited by independent auditors on an annual basis before being submitted to the EU Commission for clearance. It would not be appropriate, therefore, for my Department to take any action which would jeopardise this accredited status.
The Department is making every effort to clear all area aid applications other than a small minority of intractable cases by the end of this month so that payments can be made during the next two to three weeks.
