Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 12 June 2006.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on the impact of the late payment of claims under the 2005 Single Payment Scheme on the competitiveness of English agricultural businesses with their counterparts in other EU countries.
The timing of payments under the decoupled Single Payment Scheme (SPS) only affects the competitiveness of agricultural businesses to the extent that SPS claimants treat those payments as though they remain coupled to production. Discussions within Government and with stakeholders has highlighted widespread recognition of the potential benefits to the English agricultural industry, relative to its counterparts in most other EU member states, that were provided by the decisions made by my right hon. Friend Margaret Beckett to introduce the SPS at the earliest possible date and not to take up any of the options to retain coupled EU direct payments.
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