Written question asked by Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 27 February 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 5 March 2004. It was answered by Alun Michael (Labour) on Friday, 5 March 2004 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many units of United Kingdom sheep quota were leased-out but remained unused by the recipient farmers in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04. - Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many units of United Kingdom sheep quota were leased-out but remained unused by the recipient farmers in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04. [158431] Alun Michael: The number of sheep quota units leased out in England is set out in the following table. These figures relate to the 2003 and 2004 sheep quota trading periods respectively. The figure for 2004 is an interim figure because the trading period closed on 4 February 2004 and a proportion of notifications remain to be processed. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Units leased 2002-03 822.057 2003-04 428,424 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. It is not possible to confirm the number of leased quota units that recipient farmers did not use to support sheep premium payments. This is not monitored as there is no requirement in European legislation for farmers to use quota they have leased in. The information for other countries within the UK is a matter for their respective Devolved Assemblies.

Secondary information