35 Mr. Cox asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if there are any outstanding payments due in respect of valid applications made in 1992 for the EC special premium; the number of applicants involved; the total sum outstanding; and the length of time such payments are outstanding.

Payments totalling £54.4 million have been made in respect of over 142,000 applications for special beef premium submitted in June and November/December, 1992.

All outstanding cases are the subject of further investigation involving such matters as invalid tag numbers, proof that the required "two months" retention period was observed, etc. The number of these cases which will ultimately be validated for payment is likely to be of the order of 2,000-2,5000 involving payments of £0.7 million to £1 million.