To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many payments to farmers were completed after the target date by the Rural Payments Agency in each month in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02, (c) 2002–03 and (d) 2003–04 to date, broken down by type. [122843]

Since the Rural Payments Agency was established on 16 October 2001 the number of payments made to farmers after the target date is as follows.

2001–02 Scheme	October	November	December	January	February	March
F&V Withdrawal	—	2	—	—	—	—
OTMS Deadweight	—	—	—	3	—	—
OTMS Incineration	1	3	13	3	—	1
OTMS Mincing	4	—	—	3	—	2
Main AAPS Payments	—	—	—	—	2114	355
SAPS	—	4	—	—	2	1
BSPS	49	41	—	—	1	15

ERDP Schemes are subject to rolling payment deadlines that are calculated from the date an individual claim is received by the Rural Development Service who administer the schemes on behalf of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The exception being the Hill Farm allowance which is administered by RPA and has a target of 95 per cent. of payments to be made by the end of March.

2002–03 Scheme	April	May	June	July	August	September
OTMS Liveweight	—	—	—	—	—	—
OTMS Incineration	—	—	—	—	—	—
OTMS Mincing	—	—	—	—	—	—
Main MRS Payments	16	20	11	25	5	11
Non Food Set-Aside	150	20	20	10	3	5
SAPS	—	—	—	—	—	—
BSPS	5	4	—	8	—	5,800
SCPS	—	—	—	—	—	1,982
SPS	—	—	—	—	—	5,565
EPS	—	—	—	—	—	948

2002–03 Scheme	October	November	December	January	February	March
OTMS Liveweight	—	—	—	14	—	—
OTMS Incineration	—	—	4	—	—	—
OTMS Mincing	3	—	—	3	—	—
Main MRS Payments	—	—	—	—	341	98
Non Food Set-Aside	1	—	—	—	—	—
SAPS	3	5		2	2	2
BSPS	4,396	1,894	954	776	791	550
SCPS	2,109	982	319	634	883	424
SPS	7,433	3,026	3,925	1,832	5,128	3,663
EPS	488	385	117	125	222	166

ERDP Schemes are subject to rolling payment deadlines that are calculated from the date an individual claim is received by the Rural Development Service who administer the schemes on behalf of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The exception being the Hill Farm Allowance which is administered by RPA and has a target of 95 per cent. of payments to be made by the end of March.

2002 Scheme	Total number of claims	Claims processed after target date
Countryside Stewardship Scheme	19,790	3,364
Environmentally Sensitive Areas I-III	7,458	2,162
Environmentally Sensitive Areas IV	3,120	62
Farm Woodland Premium Scheme	7,683	230
Organic Farming Scheme	1,489	148
Processing and Marketing Grant	61	11

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what actions her Department is taking to deal with administrative problems across the border between England and Wales in processing payments by the Rural Payments Agency. [122520]

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and National Assembly for Wales Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department (NAWARAD) are in regular communication in respect of subsidy claims which cover land and animals, in both England and Wales. The majority of such claims which have been validated have received at least interim payments.In addition, automated interfaces are being developed between England and Wales for the bovine schemes.