Chamber and committees

The recent 2011 agri-environment approvals and the ongoing assessment under the continuous approval process have the same scoring threshold advice to Regional Proposal Assessment Committees (RPACs) as 2010. This resulted in a record 82% of applications being approved and we remain confident that the agri-environment budget will meet demand in the coming years, and have recently announced that there will be a further agri-environment funding round in September 2012. The budget available for Rural Priorities will depend on the level of demand for other elements of the SRDP and at this stage it is therefore not possible to predict the scoring threshold for the 2012 round.

The decision to suspend the “Management of Hedgerows” rural priorities option was taken following discussion with stakeholders over how to target agri-environment support most effectively. This was driven by the need to ensure that the balance of spend among agri-environment options reflects priorities, in order to create the maximum benefit for the natural heritage. Some agri-environment options have been more popular than others and the “Management of Hedgerows” option attracted high uptake, with contracts worth over £33 million supporting the management or creation of 2,600 km of hedgerows to benefit biodiversity. Because this support has already secured a significant benefit, the option was temporarily suspended in January 2011 in order to focus spend towards other agri-environment projects where support is more critical.

From December 2009 until September 2011, when Scottish Ministers took the necessary action to cancel the procurement exercise, as a result of market failure, in order to limit abortive costs and to avoid delay to project delivery, the amount of money spent on the procurement process for the Borders Railway was approximately £2.1 million.

Note: £ million.

This projected spend for the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) is shown the table for the three UK financial years from 2012-13 as £ million. Please note that actual expenditure will be demand-led and will be subject to the submission of claims. Furthermore, the projections for 2014-15 may be subject to change with regard to the implementation of a new EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Agri-Environment Legacy schemes include Organic Aid Scheme, Countryside Premium Scheme, Rural Stewardship Scheme, Habitats Scheme.

Farm Woodland Legacy schemes include Farm Woodland Scheme, Farm Woodland Premium Scheme, Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme – Farmland Premium.

Forestry Legacy schemes include Woodland Grant Scheme and Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme.

It is firstly important that we distinguish the sheep keeper’s requirements from the requirements of the cattle identification regulations. Cattle farmers must ensure that the details in their herd register match those on the central database, and that all animals are presented, correctly identified and with a passport to match (i.e 100% accuracy). Under the sheep inspection regime it is recognised that in many circumstances not every single animal will be gathered, that animals die and it may not always be possible to identify and record the dead animal’s identity, sometimes tags will be lost and these can be replaced without cross referencing to the original identity where that identity is not known.

EC Regulation 21/2004 requires farmers to maintain an up to date register which must contain certain specified information including individual details for animals born after 31 December 2009. (except where advantage has been taken of the derogation to allow sheep keepers selling animals intended for slaughter before 12 months of age to be identified with a single EID tag).

The flexibility that Scottish Government obtained from the EU Commission allows those farmers who are selling sheep through a Critical Control Point (CCP) to choose to rely on the CCP reads uploaded to the ScotEID database to provide the individual IDs required as part of their flock records. Where a 100% read rate has not been achieved the flexibility obtained will ensure that the farmer does not incur a cross compliance penalty for this particular element of the Regulation.

Farmers purchasing animals through a CCP may also choose to rely on the CCP reads uploaded to the ScotEID database, however the flexibility obtained in relation to moves onto a holding for fully identified EID sheep means that farmers are advised to monitor their read rates. Clearly the further read rates are from the average the more likely it is that a farmer may face the risk of penalties. However if a farmer obtains read rates that are near the national average, they can take comfort that they are less likely to fall foul of the inspectors.

Farmers must still comply with all other elements of the sheep identification legislation.

EC Regulation 21/2004 requires farmers to maintain an up to date register which must contain certain specified information including individual details for animals born after 31 December 2009. (except where advantage has been taken of the derogation to allow sheep keepers selling animals intended for slaughter before 12 months of age to be identified with a single EID tag).

The flexibility that Scottish Government obtained from the EU Commission allows those farmers who are selling sheep through a Critical Control Point (CCP) to choose to rely on the CCP reads uploaded to the ScotEID database to provide the individual IDs required as part of their flock records. Where a 100% read rate has not been achieved the flexibility obtained will ensure that the farmer does not incur a cross compliance penalty for this particular element of the Regulation.

Farmers purchasing animals through a CCP may also choose to rely on the CCP reads uploaded to the ScotEID database, however the flexibility obtained in relation to moves onto a holding for fully identified EID sheep means that farmers are advised to monitor their read rates. Clearly the further read rates are from the average the more likely it is that a farmer may face the risk of penalties. However, if a farmer obtains read rates that are near the national average, they can take comfort that they are less likely to fall foul of the inspectors.

Where low read rates are discovered at inspection, officials will be assessing these inspections centrally before applying penalties to ensure a consistent approach which takes account of the limits of the technology.

The Scottish Government does not hold such information and I also refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02966 on 7 October 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

There has never been an obligation on farmers to declare that they are new entrants and no mechanism to collect such data has ever existed. I also refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02965 on 7 October 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

New entrants who meet the European Union definition of a new entrant to farming can apply for support under the “Setting up young farmers – interest rate relief” option within the Scotland Rural Development Programme Rural Priorities scheme.

On the number of new entrant farmers to have accessed the scheme since its introduction in 2008, I refer the member to the question to question S4W-02964 on 7 October 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

The Scottish Government does not collect statistics on other new entrants or new entrants who do not apply for that specific measure.