1. Will the First Minister make a statement on Basic Payment Scheme payments to farmers? OAQ(5)0083(FM)

Over 99 per cent of eligible farm businesses have been paid.

Thank you. I’m obliged to raise this question, actually, as a result of my own intense concerns at the handling of basic payments that are still outstanding to our farmers, and your own Government department’s process. Seventeen thousand and sixty-three farmers submitted their applications in June 2015, yet 12 months later, there are approximately 171 yet to receive any payment. Indeed, in Aberconwy, I have represented farmers who have waited several months for payment without any acknowledgment of their application, and many promised that they’ve been paid, when, in fact, they have not—one was for £60,000. First Minister, a delay of such magnitude is now putting farmers’ livelihoods at risk. Outstanding payments are causing immense stress and frustration. First Minister, will you look into your own Government department’s workings in this regard, to ensure that our hardworking farmers and the custodians of our countryside are not facing potential financial ruin because of your own Government department delays?

I repeat again the answer I gave to the original question: over 99 per cent of eligible farm businesses have been paid—have had a basic payment scheme payment. If there are individual farms where there are difficulties, the correct thing to do is to raise those difficulties with the Minister, so that they can be looked at for those individuals. But we consistently outperform England and Scotland year upon year upon year when it comes to paying our farmers.

I’m sure, First Minister, that you, like me, regret the fact that so many farmers voted to leave the European Union and that there’s no doubt that that did happen. One of the reasons that they gave me for considering that, when I discussed the issue with them, was not that the payments were late but that penalties and fines would follow minor disagreements or minor errors, as were identified by civil servants in the claims for these payments. Now, you’ve lost a great deal of confidence among the farming community because of those penalties, when Phil Hogan and the European Commission had said that it would be possible to be flexible. Although that’s water under the bridge now, can you now actually revive the reputation of the Welsh Government among farmers by looking at the situation where penalties follow what should be a discussion between you as a Government and farmers about their payments?

May I ask the Member to write to me with more details? Of course, we have been following the regulations that exist at present and, of course, we have been paying farmers much more quickly than is the case in Scotland or England. But as regards the details of the individual farmers, I’d be pleased to receive a letter in order to consider exactly what’s happened.