Chamber and committees

We have no plans to transfer vessels between the two ferry networks.

The member has raised the matter of land eligibility for these schemes in previous questions and in correspondence with me. I very much regret, therefore, that I must again remind him that the guidance issued was not new and had been represented to farmers and stakeholders well in advance of the May submission date for the single application forms. What constituted eligibility for these schemes, therefore, before the issue of the guidance and what constituted eligibility afterwards is the same.

The Scottish Government''s publicity about eligibility, the issue of the notes for guidance and the reminder of the provisions of EU legislation that allowed farmers to correct their claims, together, meant that farmers were given the opportunity to safeguard subsidies that are such a necessary part of their business viability. I was pleased that in excess of 2,000 businesses took this opportunity. I regret that I am not able to provide separate figures for farmers and crofters.

The Scottish Government''s Notes for Guidance on the Single Farm Payment Scheme are a bold initiative to explain what constitutes eligible / ineligible land for the purposes of claiming support. They are unique amongst the notes issued by all UK agriculture departments in the explanation of problems using photographs to illustrate the issue of eligible land for subsidy purposes. The Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate''s (SGRPID) original plan was to have the notes issued earlier but problems were encountered in achieving a satisfactory resolution of the illustrations. The notes were issued close to the deadline for application forms but SGRPID took additional steps to clarify that farmers could correct their land declarations at any time. A significant number of farmers took the opportunity to do that and avoid possible penalties. In this way, we ensured no farmers were disadvantaged by the later delivery of these notes. For the future, lessons have been learned about starting the production process at an earlier stage.

The Scottish Government is committed both to helping farmers and crofters maximise their share of Common Agricultural Policy funds and to avoid the loss of support through penalties levied for non-compliance with regulatory requirements that were avoidable. Where funding is claimed through the over declaration of eligible land, no matter how unwitting the claimant''s actions, the Scottish Government must implement the scheme of penalties set by the EC under European legislation, as it is required to do by the Scotland Act.

The Energy Assistance Package was introduced on 6 April 2009. This is when the first applications to Stage 4 were received by the Energy Saving Trust. These were forwarded by the Energy Saving Trust to Scottish Gas on 22 April 2009. The last referrals for that year were created on 30 March 2010, and sent to Scottish Gas on 31 March 2010.

Any reductions in the area claimed, as a result of declaring land over and above what would otherwise be considered as eligible are calculated on the basis of a physical measurement using modern mapping and measurement technologies. Each calculation of land area is also informed by an assessment of eligibility by a professional trained agricultural officer. This methodology ensures that the deduction is reasonable. With the issue of proportionality, the Scottish Government''s Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate does not have any discretion to vary the level of penalties as these are set by the European Commission. The penalty regime, however, differentiates between over declarations committed intentionally, for which the level of penalty is severe, and those committed through oversight where the level of penalty varies according to the scale of the over claim and the eligible land found.

The inspection cycle for 2010-11 is underway but not complete so it is not possible to answer the question as asked. The analysis of the 2009-10 inspection cycle shows the following:

Number of inspections undertaken: 1,107;

Number penalised in penalty band up to 3%: 178;

Number penalised in penalty band three to 50%: 53;

Number penalised in penalty band +50%: 6.

No comparison of penalty regimes associated with declaring land over and above what would otherwise be considered as eligible has been undertaken. Since the penalty regime is set in European legislation and, therefore, applicable to all member states, such a comparison would not be worthwhile.

All farmers and crofters have a fundamental right of appeal against the recovery, reduction, or refusal of subsidy for whatever reason. This right is provided by The Rural Payments (Appeals) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (Scottish Statutory Instrument 2009/376, 20 November 2009). Those affected are advised of this right in the letters issued by Scottish Government''s Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate advising them of any revisions to claimed eligible areas.

The Scottish Government''s Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate (SGRPID) has worked with the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS), and taken its advice, on how best to communicate with farmers and crofters on how they can avoid penalties by claiming only land that meets eligibility requirements. A number of meetings were held between senior officials, NFUS'' office bearers, and senior official with the aim of minimising any loss of support due to over declaration penalties. At a public level, SGRPID and NFUS worked together to put this objective into practice. Firstly, a series of public meetings to remind farmers about their obligations to claim only eligible land, secondly, SGRPID''s Chief Agricultural Officer provided articles for The Scottish Farmer on the same themes and thirdly, after consultation with NFUS, SGRPID issued a personal letter to all farmers likely to be involved with either the Single Farm Payment Scheme and / or the Less-Favoured Area Support Scheme, containing advice on how to avoid penalties.