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Hill Farm Allowance
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many representations he has received in response to the Government paper, The Hill Farm Allowance Scheme in England; how many of them were from the West Country; and how long was the consultation period. [102172]
Ms Quin: The consultation paper was published on 5 November, and the deadline for responses was four weeks later on 3 December. By then we had received 48 responses. Most were from national organisations, but seven were sent from south-west interests.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what (a) economic and (b) environmental impact studies he has undertaken with regard to the effect on less favoured areas of the proposed Hill Farm Allowance Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [102173]
Ms Quin: In formulating the proposals account was taken of the evaluation report on the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance scheme in England which was published in April 1998, of the latest data on hill farm incomes, and of management reports on the less favoured areas overgrazing controls and other advice from the Farming and Rural Conservation Agency. The proposals also reflect an assessment of their likely redistributive effect. The impact of the new scheme will be monitored, and it will be reviewed in 2003.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the proposed Hill Farm Allowance Scheme will come into force in (a) England and (b) the rest of the European Union; and if he will make a statement. [102174]
Ms Quin: The proposed Hill Farm Allowance Scheme will apply only in England, and the first payments will be made during the early months of 2001.
Intervention Board
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the views of the (a) hygiene service and (b) Meat and Livestock Commission were sought on
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each of the companies who submitted a tender in the recent award of contracts to abattoirs by the Intervention Board under the over-30-month scheme. [102357]
Ms Quin:
Decisions were reached following a competitive tender under which bids were considered and evaluated against objective criteria by a Project Board. The Project Board's membership included representatives of the Intervention Board, the UK Agriculture Departments, the Meat Hygiene Service, the Meat and Livestock Commission, the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland Veterinary Service and the Livestock and Meat Commission.
Mr. Oaten:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when his Department's cattle numeric tagging system will be in operation. [102065]
Ms Quin
[holding answer 9 December 1999]: The change to numeric tagging will be effective from 17 January 2000.
Mr. David Heath:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he intends to continue to process
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applications for (a) GM varieties to be placed on the national list and (b) the use of herbicides on GM crops in the period up to 2003. [101752]
Ms Quin
[holding answer 9 December 1999]: We intend to continue to process National List applications for GM varieties. However the Government have decided not to grant a commercial level of approval to any herbicide for use on a crop genetically modified to be tolerant to that particular herbicide unless and until such a time as the crop itself is legally on the market. In the meantime, approvals for such use will be restricted to experimental approvals to allow for the use of the pesticide in question on a limited scale so that research work may be carried out.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the expenditure profile of each head of expenditure under the Rural Development Regulation for each of the seven years of the programme. [102800]
Mr. Morley
[holding answer 14 December 1999]: Proposed expenditure under the England Rural Development Plan, subject to European Commission approval, and the Government's 2000 Spending Review is as follows:
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| Financial year and RDR measure | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| Agri-environment | 95 | 119 | 136 | 152 | 167 | 182 | 197 |
| Farm Woodlands | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Increase in Woodland Grant Scheme | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Less Favoured Areas | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
| Rural Enterprise | 0 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Processing and Marketing | 0 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Training | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Energy crops | 0 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
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Tuberculosis
Mr. Robertson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the progress of the trials being carried out to counter TB as recommended by the Krebs report. [102222]
Ms Quin [holding answer 13 December 1999]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Jones) on 30 November 1999, Official Report, column 186W.
Common Agricultural Policy
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will publish the amount of the direct payments under the CAP that will be transferred to other payments through modulation in each of the seven years from 2001; [102786]
- (2) if he will publish the amount of the direct payments under the CAP that will be transferred from each sector that currently receives direct payments to other payments through modulation in each of the seven years from 2001. [102787]
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Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 13 December 1999]: The Government announced their intention on 7 December to introduce modulation of farm payments as from 2001 and to use the funds released, with Government match funding, towards the seven-year Rural Development programme. A list of the farm payments affected is given in the following table.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001-02 | 22 |
| 2002-03 | 45 |
| 2003-04 | 50 |
| 2004-05 | 54 |
| 2005-06 | 62 |
| 2006-07 | 70 |
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20 Dec 1999 : Column: 443W
Mr. Yeo:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the percentages of direct payments under the CAP that will be modulated in each of the seven years from 2001. [102785]
Mr. Nick Brown
[holding answer 13 December 1999]: The Government announced on 7 December their intention to introduce modulation of farm payments as from 2001 and to use the funds released, with Government match funding, towards the seven-year Rural Development programme. In 2001, 2.5 per cent. of payments will be modulated, rising to 3 per cent. in 2002, 3.5 per cent. in 2003 and 2004 and 4.5 per cent. in 2005 and 2006.
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