Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
Michael Ring
Question:
9
Mr. Ring
asked the
Minister for Agriculture and Food
the amount of money outstanding for payment under each headage and premia scheme for 1998; the percentage of farmers still awaiting payment on a county to county basis; if this money will be paid before Christmas; the number of applicants experiencing difficulties with their area aid applications for 1998; and the number of applicants that still have to be contacted by the area aid unit.
[28066/98]
To date this year a record level of £804 million has been paid to farmers under the various EU headage and premium schemes. This compares most favourably with the positions in 1997 and 1996 when £746 million and £788 million respectively were paid at the years' end. The previous high level of payments in 1996 and 1997 resulted from a concession being obtained from the European Commission to overcome problems associated with the introduction of a new computerised land parcel identification system (LPIS). While the EU concession facilitated large levels of payment in those two years, on the negative side its application resulted in the build up of significant processing backlogs which had detrimental impacts on the following years processing. This was a factor in dealing with 1998 area aid applications. All payments are now made on the basis of a clear area aid declaration, major advances have been achieved in dealing with area aid applications in 1998. In the past week alone over £19 million has been paid bringing the total paid out so far under the 1998 schemes to over £503 million. The corresponding figure at this time last year was £479 million. The payment targets under the Charter of Rights for Farmers for the main headage and premium schemes are very specific and in 1998 the payment commencement targets have been met or indeed surpassed under these schemes.
In so far as the 1998 headage schemes are concerned, payment of sheep headage commenced on 21 September, one week ahead of the commencement date in 1997. To date over £20 million has been paid. Payments under the 1998 cattle headage scheme commenced on 26 September three weeks ahead of the commencement date in 1997. Payments under the 1998 beef cow schemes commenced on 30 October 1998. To date £88 million has been paid to cattle headage-beef cow applicants.
Of the 89,000 applications received under the 1998 cattle headage/beef cow scheme, some 2,700 applications have not been cleared for payment at local office level because of problems of one kind or another. In these cases the applicants have been written to and my Department is awaiting responses.
The second instalment of 1998 ewe premium was agreed at EU level on 2 October. The regulation giving effect to the rate was published on 16 October and payments totalling £24.699 million were paid to 97 per cent of applicants during week ending 23 October 1998.
Payments of the advances under the 1998 special beef premium started on 19 October 1998 as opposed to 1 November 1997 under the 1997 schemes. I secured this earlier payment date this year with an 80 per cent advance instead of the normal 60 per cent advance in order to increase the cash flow to farmers in the October-December period. So far over £85 million has been paid. This compares with £53 million paid at this time last year. Of the 169,000 January to September applications received, some 6,500 are under query and in these cases the farmers concerned have been written to on at least one occasion.
Payments under the May 1998 suckler cow premium scheme commenced on 20 October 1998 which is ahead of the commencement date of 4 November 1997 under the 1997 scheme. The earlier commencement and higher rate of advance applies also to this scheme. To date over £102 million has been paid. The position at this time last year was that £75 million was paid. Of the 73,500 applications received under the May 1998 suckler cow premium scheme, over 2,600 are under query at local office level and in these cases the applicants have been written to on at least one occasion.
Payments under the 1998 arable aid scheme commenced on 16 October and, including payments in respect of oilseeds advances, some £90 million has now been paid to 98 per cent of applicants. Those applicants who have not yet been paid, have been written to setting out the reason for non-payment.
I have also made arrangements for payments under the winter fodder scheme valued at over £10 million to issue this week with payments under the cull ewe supplementary measure to follow before the year's end.
The position on area aid is that some 4,500 of the 1998 area aid applications are still under query. Of these some 1,500 will receive payments or part payments by the end of the week leaving 3,000 cases which have particularly difficult overclaim problems most of them commonage related. The area aid unit is currently concentrating all of its resources on the resolution of problems associated with these cases with a view to paying the farmers concerned at the earliest opportunity. EU Regulations, require a 100 per cent check on all land parcels submitted by farmers on their 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 parcel. Of the 132,000 area aid applications received in 1998, some 85,000 required changes to the 1997 data. Many of these changes had to be redigitised on the LPIS database and in some cases this process results in the creation of dual or overlap claims against a previously clear contiguous farm. This makes it necessary to establish actual entitlement to the area concerned which can be a difficult process. Furthermore, I should point out that not all applications will ultimately be entitled to payment. For example over 1,000 May 1998 suckler cow applicants do not hold suckler cow quotas and are therefore not entitled to payment. In other cases payments are withheld because of the application of penalties and in some cases farmers omitted to complete an area aid declaration. As I have pointed out the applicants who have been written to have yet to establish entitlement under the relevant schemes. It should be noted also that payments do not conclude at the end of the calendar year. For example, under the suckler cow premium scheme and the special beef premium scheme the regulations provide for advance payments in the year of application with balancing payments being made in the following year. Payments to applicants under the October 1998 suckler cow premium scheme cannot commence until such time as the six month retention period expires in April 1999. The House will appreciate therefore that until such time as each application is finalised in conjunction with the farmer concerned it is simply not possible at this stage to provide a reasonable estimate of the value of outstanding payments or the percentage of farmers still awaiting payment in any county.
I am extremely conscious of the importance of headage and premia payments to farmers and their families. With this in mind, I successfully approached the European Commission early in the autumn to secure earlier and larger advance payments under special beef and suckler cow schemes. On the headage side, payments also commenced at earlier dates and I obtained additional funds in a Supplementary Estimate last week to permit me to pay the maximum number of farmers this year. The record level of payments this year is a testament of my commitment and that of my Department on this issue. Every effort continues to be made to clear problem cases and make payment in time for Christmas. Farmers too can help by responding to my Department's letters thus opening the way to early payment.
