Whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government to secure additional agrimonetary compensation and, if so, what amount it …

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Government on a wide range of issues including agrimoney compensation. The Scottish Executive cannot decide unilaterally to pay compensation since agrimoney payments must be made on a UK-wide basis. That is why the subject was discussed along with other issues when I met with the other Agricultural Ministers on Monday 22 January.The United Kingdom Government has until the end of April 2001 to apply to the EU Commission for such aid. Since the precise amounts of agrimoney compensation available to the UK has yet to be determined by the EU Commission, it is rather pre-mature to discuss how much agrimoney compensation, if any, we will apply for. We will consider the matter in more detail once we have a clearer picture of precisely how much money is at stake.