To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, pursuant to AQW 48938/11-16, how individual need will be assessed; and how measures to support struggling dairy farmers will be allocated and distributed.

As I stated in the Assembly on 12 October the payments to individual farmers will be assessed on the basis of their milk production and they will receive a flat rate for each litre of that production. The reference point for this assessment will be the level of a farmer’s production during the last year of the milk quota system, that is, 2014/15. This will ensure that payments can be calculated and delivered as quickly as possible to our hard-pressed dairy farmers.

The payments will be distributed to dairy farmers by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), which is the most efficient and effective approach to taking this exercise forward. Importantly, it will have no implications for the processing of Basic Payments here. I understand how vital Basic Payments are to farmers across all sectors and I am committed to ensuring that as many farmers as possible receive their payments in December.

My officials are talking to DEFRA officials on an ongoing basis about the detailed practicalities of making the payments to dairy farmers and the subordinate legislation that will also be required in this Member State.

I am anxious that payments are made as quickly as possible, and, given that our farmers are in greatest need of support, I have told George Eustice that I want our farmers to receive their payments first. I have pressed him for the aid to be paid as early as possible by the RPA, and I expect that payments will be made in early December.