Vol. 436 No. 1
133 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his attention has been drawn to the delay in issuing premia payments from his Department; the steps, if any, he is taking to ensure that all files cleared for payment will be paid their grants; and when these payments will be continued.
Payments made to date in 1993 under the various headage and premium schemes total £255 million. I expect that up to a further £140 million will be paid to farmers under these schemes over the next four weeks. When account is taken of other direct compensatory payments being made this year, the total figure for 1993 should come close to £450 million. This compares very favourably with the previous record payments level of £409 million in 1992.
Payments are now commencing under cattle and beef cow headage and special beef and suckler cow premium schemes. In so far as headage is concerned, payments normally commence around this time of the year. With regard to special beef and suckler cow premium schemes, the EC regulations preclude any payment before 1 November and they limit payment to a 60 per cent advance.
