- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the fairness and proportionality of the single farm payment penalty system.
Answer
The rules for CAP payment reductions under cross-compliance are laid down in European legislation. In general breaches of cross-compliance should result in a reduction of 3% being applied to a beneficiaries payments for one year under the Single Farm Payment Scheme, Scottish Beef Calf Scheme, Energy Crop Scheme, Protein Crop Premium, Less Favoured Area Support Scheme and certain management options claimed under the Land Managers Options Scheme and Rural Priorities.
Prior to 2009, most breaches of cross-compliance in Scotland were resulting in a 1% reduction or a warning letter as this was considered to be appropriate for the seriousness of the breaches that were being found. We have now been forced to increase the payment reduction levels under cross-compliance because recent EC audits in Scotland, the UK and across Europe, have ruled the current penalty systems too lenient.
These increases must be implemented to avoid potential, costly penalties on the Scottish Government from the EU which could have a detrimental and unjust effect on the level of funds available to all farmers and other land managers. The cross-compliance payment reduction systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were also tightened up in 2009 following their EC audits.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that penalties imposed under the Single Farm Payment Scheme are fair and proportionate.
Answer
All cross-compliance inspections are carried out according to clearly laid down procedures across Scotland and the results and any penalties that are applied are monitored on a national basis.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it is providing to farmers who believe that they may have been disproportionately penalised under the Single Farm Payment Scheme.
Answer
Land managers who are penalised under cross-compliance can submit an appeal under the new EU Rural Payments Appeal Procedure which was launched on the 20 November 2009.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it is undertaking to examine the fairness and proportionality of fines imposed under the Single Farm Payment Scheme.
Answer
We are looking at the detailed results of European Commission audits across the rest of Europe and speaking to other member states who have been audited to confirm the position in their countries.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive when it next expects to meet stakeholders to discuss the single farm payment penalty system.
Answer
We have regular meetings with stakeholders and these matters will be discussed if appropriate. Although no meetings are scheduled at present to discuss this specific topic, we expect this to be raised at forthcoming meetings.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to EU Regulation 21/2004 on the identification of sheep and goats, when it last met stakeholders to discuss the issue of within-business moves.
Answer
The Scottish Government met with stakeholders on 21 December 2009 to discuss this issue.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to EU Regulation 21/2004 on the identification of sheep and goats, when it next expects to meet stakeholders to discuss the issue of within-business moves.
Answer
The Scottish Government meets regularly with stakeholders to discuss all issues relating to EU Regulation 21/2004. However, there are no future meetings planned for this particular issue.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to EU Regulation 21/2004 on the identification of sheep and goats, what research it is undertaking to examine the continued viability of within-business moves.
Answer
Within-business moves is not currently applied to the sheep and goat identification system and therefore there is no question of continued viability. As with all proposals, the Scottish Government utilises all available information to assist with the decision making process. With regards to within-business moves, the following information has been considered: data and movement populations, epidemiological issues and risks, legal aspects and practical issues faced by farmers.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to EU Regulation 21/2004 on the identification of sheep and goats, when it plans to publish guidelines or regulations on within-business moves.
Answer
The Scottish Government will publish guidance on all aspects of EU Regulation 21/2004 in the early part of 2010.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 18 December 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have received support from the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10, broken down by parliamentary constituency.
Answer
Statistical Information is not held at constituency level. The following table shows the households helped under the Energy Assistance Package (EAP) to the end of November 2009, analysed by local authority.
The type of support provided includes energy saving advice, assistance with benefits, advice on social tariffs, energy payment methods, insulation measures and installation of heating systems.
Households Helped Under EAP, from April to End November 2009
| Aberdeen City | 679 |
| Aberdeenshire | 1,094 |
| Angus | 815 |
| Argyll and Bute | 583 |
| Clackmannanshire | 243 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 970 |
| Dundee City | 803 |
| East Ayrshire | 706 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 667 |
| East Lothian | 441 |
| East Renfrewshire | 652 |
| Edinburgh, City of | 2,073 |
| Eilean Siar | 372 |
| Falkirk | 955 |
| Fife | 2,408 |
| Glasgow City | 2,196 |
| Highland | 1,789 |
| Inverclyde | 665 |
| Midlothian | 389 |
| Moray | 497 |
| North Ayrshire | 963 |
| North Lanarkshire | 1,452 |
| Orkney Islands | 174 |
| Perth and Kinross | 883 |
| Renfrewshire | 816 |
| Scottish Borders | 626 |
| Shetland Islands | 50 |
| South Ayrshire | 824 |
| South Lanarkshire | 1,691 |
| Stirling | 639 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 379 |
| West Lothian | 733 |
| No Value* | 15 |
| All Scotland | 28,242 |
Note: *The address verification process requires a valid post code in order to assign the address to a local authority. Occasionally with new builds the post code is not available with the Ordnance Survey data used by the database and therefore cannot be assigned to a local authority via the verification process. The post code data in the database is updated regularly and as it is updated the properties are assigned to the relevant local authority area.
