Individual aid payment could be made public
Individual aid payment could be made public
By Liz Mason
DETAILS of support payments made to individual farmers could be released to the public under governments plans for a Freedom of Information Act.
Public services minister, David Clark, who has launched a consultation paper on the governments proposals, told MPs that information held by government departments relating to "access to land and moneys being paid by MAFF" should be available under the legislation.
Individual payments
Criticism over the size of individual payments has been renewed with the publication of latest figures showing nine farmers each received £1m in subsidies, and another was paid £250,000 under the set-aside scheme.
Junior farm minister Jeff Rooker described CAP support payments as "state handouts given under the equivalent of a social security system for part of the farming industry."
He added: "Some individuals get an absolute fortune and I would like nothing more than to be able to publish the detailed information. But, under the terms of the law of confidentiality between the government and the recipient of such state handouts, I am unable to do so."
But Dr Clark, a former president of the northern Ramblers Association, said the proposed freedom of information legislation would give every individual a statutory right to know about the information and records held by government. And, in most cases, information could be withheld only if its disclosure would cause substantial harm.
He added that there were matters, such as national security or personal privacy, where information must be protected. But a cabinet office spokeswoman said that under the terms of the proposed bill there would be nothing to stop members of the public asking MAFF how much an individual farmer received from the ministry.
Public interest?
It would then be up to MAFF to decide whether disclosure was in the public interest. A MAFF spokesman said requests from the public for information would be looked at on a case-by-case basis. "Each case will be considered on its merits," he said.
Disclosure would depend on the type of information people asked for as well as the terms of the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act, he added.