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Rural Payments Agency

My Lords, I am delighted to hear that Reading is such a fine centre of excellence because I was born there and my title is of Reading. I am a little disappointed that the Minister has not yet answered my noble friend Lady Mar’s question about the computer crash. Will he take up the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Carter, about an interim payment? In Scotland I have already had 81.9 per cent—a magical percentage—of my single farm payment, but an interim payment would ease the burden of hardship on an enormous number of farmers. Even 50 per cent would be something. One must not forget that, particularly with the very wet spring that we have had, most farmers are at least a month behind in their cultivations, which means that harvest will be a month late and payments for arable farmers’ harvests will be in turn a further month behind.