Schedule 1 - Adjusted compensation
Animal Health Bill
5:30 pm
Mr Elliot Morley (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
The hon. Lady has made a reasonable case. Both the amendments deal with a 14-day time limit, but they cover different issues.
With regard to amendment No. 32, the Department will always aim to inform farmers as soon as possible of the Minister's decision on the amount of compensation that they will receive. The reasons for that are readily understandable. We hope that in most cases, we would fall within the 14-day time limit. Although that is our objective, it would not be sensible to put it in the Bill because there might be circumstances in which it might be difficult, and it would occasionally need to take longer, particularly if information has to be checked with the original farmer. It is difficult to accept amendment No. 32.
Amendment No. 18 brings us back to consistency. I am not against the principle of this. If farmers are given longer to appeal, the downside is that they have to wait for their payment. Farmers might prefer to have the 28-day period to appeal on any dispute about the withholding of the 25 per cent. in relation to the biosecurity. In that respect, I am prepared to give serious consideration to amendment No. 18. I should like to discuss that with stakeholders to get their views, too.