How many claims under the Less Favoured Area scheme for 2001 were submitted before the deadline and how many have been paid.

My Department received 13,718 claims. A small number have been either rejected, because they did not fulfil the basic criteria of the scheme, or withdrawn by the applicants. This left some 13,535 claims to be paid and to date 13,343 have been paid in full (98.6%). The claims awaiting settlement are typically the more difficult cases involving cross-border claimants, business transfers and are made up of: 100 (0.7%) where the claimants have already received the minimum payable under the scheme using the transitional payment arrangements (more commonly called the safety net) and 92 (0.7%) where the claimants have yet to have their payments calculated. In both cases, my officials are liasing closely with the appropriate parties whether they be other administrations or claimants in order to get these claims paid as soon as possible.