Y Pwyllgor Amgylchedd a Chynaliadwyedd
Environment and Sustainability Committee
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Annwyl Rebecca
Financial scrutiny – Farming and Food portfolio
Thank you for agreeing to attend the Committee’s meeting on 20 May for a scrutiny session on financial matters relating to your portfolio. In the meantime it would be very helpful to the Committee if you could provide written information on the issues outlined in this letter.
Bovine TB
The second Supplementary Budget includes a £8 million revenue transfer out of the ‘Management and delivery of TB eradication and other Endemic Diseases’ Action. The Committee would like further information on:
§ The reasons for the £8 million net revenue underspend from TB eradication shown in the Supplementary Budget.
§ If any action planned in 2014-15 has not been undertaken and what impact will this have.
§ Will this underspend have an impact on future years’ budgets for both TB slaughter and TB eradication.
The Common Agricultural Policy
The Second Supplementary Budget reduces the revenue allocation within the ‘Delivering the Programmes within the RDP’ Action by £6.2 million. The Committee would welcome further information on:
§ The reasons for the £6.2 million reduction in the ‘Delivering the Programmes within the RDP’ Action.
§ If any action planned in 2014-15 has not been undertaken and what impact will this have.
§ Will any of this action be carried over to future years and if so will associated funding be available.
The second Supplementary Budget includes an increase in capital allocations of £6.9 million in respect of CAP Reform IT. The Committee requests clarification on:
§ The outcomes that are anticipated from the additional £6.9 million capital allocation highlighted in the Supplementary Budget as being in “respect of CAP Reform IT”.
§ The overall cost for the CAP Reform IT project.
EID Cymru and New Entrants
We note that the ‘Develop and deliver overarching policy and programmes on Agriculture, Food and Marine’ capital budget line is increased by £1.9 million in the Second Supplementary Budget. This consists of £1.6 million for the delivery of the young entrants scheme and £0.3 million for the continued development of EID Cymru. The Committee requests clarification on:
§ The actions that will be delivered by the additional £1.6 million in capital provided for delivery of the young entrants scheme.
§ The total cost of EID Cymru.
§ If the additional £0.3 million provided in capital for development of EID Cymru is as a result of increased costs or because spending on the project is being brought forward from 2015-16.
Dairy
In light of the recent turmoil within the dairy sector and the publication of the outcomes of the review of dairy farming, the Committee would welcome further information on:
¡ The support that has been made available to dairy farmers towards the end of the 2014-15 financial year and options that are being explored for the next financial year.
I would be grateful if you could provide responses to the above points by Wednesday 15 April.
Yours sincerely,
Alun Ffred Jones AM
Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee