Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 13 June 2005.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many owners who lost stock due to disease breakdown have been overpaid due to overvaluation of that stock in each of the last five years.
It is not possible to give a precise figure for the number of cattle owners that have received excessive compensation as a result of a TB breakdown. However, the evidence for overcompensation is extensive and includes: a National Audit Office (Wales) study, which concluded both that compensation payments in South Wales were between 50 and 100 per cent. higher than comparable 'free market' values and also that there was a significant overcompensation problem in South West England, and two Defra internal audit studies which also concluded that over-compensation was a significant problem in England.
Furthermore, a separate report by the University of Reading concluded that a significant number of beef farms, and some dairy farms, showed a net financial benefit associated with their TB breakdown. This suggested that some farmers were being over-compensated by significant amounts, including consequential losses, which are illegal under the compensation scheme.
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