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IACS Payments
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects payment of arable area IACS for the past year to be completed. [26741R]
Mr. Morley: Industrial action, which has been delaying the processing of arable aid (AAPS) claims, was suspended by the trade unions with effect from 11 January. This allowed the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) to step up the amount of overtime being worked beginning in the weekend of 12–13 January. Overtime working will now continue, as long as the suspension remains in place, until the backlog of claim processing is cleared. The RPA expects to be able to pay the vast majority of AAPS claims within the regulatory timeframe which ends on 31 January. However, because of the
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processing time which has already been lost, it is likely that more claims than usual will be carried over into February. Every effort will be made to keep this to the absolute minimum. As at 13 January 80 per cent. of AAPS claims had been passed for payment.
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the average proportion of an arable farmer's income that is made up by an IACS payment at the latest date for which figures are available. [26742R]
Mr. Morley: Information on total farm output (including direct subsidies), total input costs, and net farm income for full-time arable farms in England is given in the table. The data relate to 1999–2000. In this year, the average subsidy exceeded the average income.
Data for 2000–01 will be available on 31 January.
| General cropping farms | Cereals farms | |
|---|---|---|
| Total farm output (£ per farm) | 207,200 | 123,900 |
| of which: | ||
| Direct crop subsidies (£ per farm) | 28,800 | 34,200 |
| Direct livestock subsidies (£ per farm) | 2,400 | 2,300 |
| Direct general subsidies (£ per farm) | 600 | 1,200 |
| Direct crop subsidies (as a percentage of output) | 13.9 | 27.6 |
| Direct livestock subsidies (as a percentage of output) | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Direct general subsidies (as a percentage of output) | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| Total input (costs) (£ per farm) | 199,100 | 112,200 |
| Net farm income (£) | 8,100 | 11,700 |
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of arable area IACS payments were made to farmers by (a) 1 January 2001 for the preceding year and (b) 1 January 2002 for this past year. [26740R]
Mr. Morley: By 30 December 2001, 29,075 IACS payments (68.03 per cent.) had been passed for payment, with a value of £495,577,987.14. The figures at the same stage last year was 39,516 (90 per cent.) with a value of £725,996,684.
Fish Stocks
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when, at the rate of depletion in 2000, stocks of (a) cod, (b) herring, (c) mackerel and (d) plaice will be fished out in (i) UK and (ii) EU waters; and if she will make a statement. [27164]
Mr. Morley: It is not possible or meaningful to answer the question in the terms asked. Stock levels in future years will depend, in part, on the abundance of future broods of young fish not yet spawned. Also, the stocks are subject to a range of management measures aimed at restoring them, although the outcome of these measures cannot be precisely predicted at present, the assumption underlying the question that these measures will have no effect is not a reasonable hypothesis.
Rather than the rate of depletion of stocks, the indicators used for the state of fish stocks are, for each stock, the spawning stock biomass and the level of
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fishing mortality. Where these indicators fall below the precautionary benchmarks established by scientists, the scientific advice is that action should be taken to raise them to within safe biological limits. The recovery plans already in place for northern hake and for cod in the North sea, Irish sea and west of Scotland and now proposed by the commission for further stocks, together with the decisions taken by the Council of Ministers to set TACs and quotas for 2002 in line with scientific advice, are aimed at reversing decline in fish stocks where it is occurring and is of concern, rather than allowing it to continue.
Goats
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if goats are to be included with sheep with respect to BSE testing; and what her policy is on the destruction of the national goat herd if BSE is found to be present in sheep. [26898]
Mr. Morley: Goats are included in the testing programme for TSEs which we are putting in place to meet the requirements of EU legislation. If BSE were to be found in the sheep flock, the implications for goats would need to be determined in the light of circumstances at the time, taking into account in particular the views of the Food Standards Agency and the scientific advice offered by the EU's Scientific Steering Committee and by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee.
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what reasons lie behind the recent changes to the regulations for the transportation of goats for mating. [26765]
Mr. Morley: The movement of animals has been restricted as part of the measures to control the spread of foot and mouth disease. The most recent change to the animal movements licensing scheme affecting goats was introduced on 18 December 2001. From this date, goats were allowed to move freely between At Risk Counties provided an inspection by a Local Veterinary Inspector
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proved satisfactory. As of 15 January 2002, there are no At Risk Counties in Great Britain. There have been no recent changes to the rules regarding the movement of billy goats for breeding purposes.
Bovine TB
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in which areas the culling of badgers as part of the Krebs trial has restarted; how many badgers have been culled; and what the estimated cost of the trial is. [26754]
Mr. Morley: The badger field trial was suspended in February last year because of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak. Badger culling has not yet recommenced but surveying operations have restarted in all trial areas. Up to the time that the trial was suspended, 2,913 badgers had been culled. The overall cost of the trial has been estimated to be approximately £35 million.
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cattle have been culled since 1995 due to being infected with bovine TB, broken down by year and county. [26751]
Mr. Morley: The table shows the number of animals slaughtered because they reacted to the tuberculin test broken down by county for England, Scotland and Wales for the years 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,2000 and 2001. A figure by county is not available for Northern Ireland and the relevant figures for each year are shown.
All figures are produced from the State Veterinary Service IT support system. The figure for 1995 is unvalidated raw data. The use of the system for management reporting only began late in 1995 and it is not now possible to validate this data. For the years 1996, 1997 and 1998 the table shows validated agreed data. Statistics meeting 'national statistics' criteria have been used for 1999 and 2000 but the data are yet to be validated and these are therefore provisional. For 2001 the data are provisional and unvalidated as laboratory results are awaited.
(40) The figures for 1999, 2000 and 2001 are provisional.
(41) Due to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease testing has been greatly reduced. In addition a number of cases await laboratory results.
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Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cases of bovine TB there have been in the United Kingdom since 1995, broken down by year and county. [26752]
Mr. Morley: The table shows the number of herds affected by new confirmed incidents of bovine TB broken down by country for England, Scotland and Wales for the years 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. A figure by county is not available for Northern Ireland and the relevant figures for each year are shown.
A new herd incident occurs when a herd which was previously TB free either had cattle that reacted to a tuberculin test or had a tuberculous animal disclosed by routine inspection at slaughter. This becomes a confirmed incident where at least one animal is subsequently
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confirmed as having bovine TB either through laboratory result and/or evidence at slaughter.
The figures for Northern Ireland relate to new herd incidents only.
All figures are produced from the state veterinary service IT support system. The figure for 1995 is unvalidated raw data. The use of the system for management reporting only began late in 1995 and it is not now possible to validate this data. For the years 1996, 1997 and 1998 the table shows validated agreed data. Statistics meeting 'national statistics' criteria have been used for 1999 and 2000 but the data are yet to be validated and these are therefore provisional. For 2001 the date are provisional and unvalidated as laboratory results are awaited.
(42) The figures for 1999, 2000 and 2001 are provisional.
(43) Due to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease testing has been greatly reduced. In addition a number of cases await laboratory results.
(44) Figures relate to new herd incidents only, and include all those that were subsequently confirmed.
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Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many badgers have been culled as part of the Krebs trial to date, broken down by year and county. [26755]
Mr. Morley: The number of badgers culled as part of the Krebs trial to date, broken down by year and county, is as follows:
| County | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Somerset | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| Wiltshire | 0 | 0 | 602 | 142 | 0 | 744 |
| Herefordshire | 0 | 0 | 55 | 0 | 0 | 55 |
| Gloucestershire | 0 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| Devon | 238 | 158 | 147 | 23 | 0 | 566 |
| Cornwall | 0 | 246 | 629 | 111 | 0 | 986 |
| Staffordshire | 0 | 0 | 428 | 0 | 0 | 428 |
| Total | 238 | 404 | 1,995 | 276 | 0 | 2,913 |
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