The rules for CAP payment reductions under cross-compliance are laid down in European legislation. In general breaches of cross-compliance should result in a reduction of 3% being applied to a beneficiaries payments for one year under the Single Farm Payment Scheme, Scottish Beef Calf Scheme, Energy Crop Scheme, Protein Crop Premium, Less Favoured Area Support Scheme and certain management options claimed under the Land Managers Options Scheme and Rural Priorities.

Prior to 2009, most breaches of cross-compliance in Scotland were resulting in a 1% reduction or a warning letter as this was considered to be appropriate for the seriousness of the breaches that were being found. We have now been forced to increase the payment reduction levels under cross-compliance because recent EC audits in Scotland, the UK and across Europe, have ruled the current penalty systems too lenient.

These increases must be implemented to avoid potential, costly penalties on the Scottish Government from the EU which could have a detrimental and unjust effect on the level of funds available to all farmers and other land managers. The cross-compliance payment reduction systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were also tightened up in 2009 following their EC audits.

Stakeholders were alerted to the review of payment reduction levels in January 2009, following the audits in England and Wales in 2008. We had meetings with them and kept in touch as the review progressed. The revised cross-compliance payment reduction system was discussed with stakeholders at a meeting on 5 November 2009, prior to writing to land managers later that month.

The Scottish Government met with stakeholders on 21 December 2009 to discuss this issue.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with stakeholders to discuss all issues relating to EU Regulation 21/2004. However, there are no future meetings planned for this particular issue.

Within-business moves is not currently applied to the sheep and goat identification system and therefore there is no question of continued viability. As with all proposals, the Scottish Government utilises all available information to assist with the decision making process. With regards to within-business moves, the following information has been considered: data and movement populations, epidemiological issues and risks, legal aspects and practical issues faced by farmers.

The Scottish Government will publish guidance on all aspects of EU Regulation 21/2004 in the early part of 2010.

Statistical Information is not held at constituency level. The following table shows the households helped under the Energy Assistance Package (EAP) to the end of November 2009, analysed by local authority.

The type of support provided includes energy saving advice, assistance with benefits, advice on social tariffs, energy payment methods, insulation measures and installation of heating systems.

Households Helped Under EAP, from April to End November 2009

Aberdeen City	679
Aberdeenshire	1,094
Angus	815
Argyll and Bute	583
Clackmannanshire	243
Dumfries and Galloway	970
Dundee City	803
East Ayrshire	706
East Dunbartonshire	667
East Lothian	441
East Renfrewshire	652
Edinburgh, City of	2,073
Eilean Siar	372
Falkirk	955
Fife	2,408
Glasgow City	2,196
Highland	1,789
Inverclyde	665
Midlothian	389
Moray	497
North Ayrshire	963
North Lanarkshire	1,452
Orkney Islands	174
Perth and Kinross	883
Renfrewshire	816
Scottish Borders	626
Shetland Islands	50
South Ayrshire	824
South Lanarkshire	1,691
Stirling	639
West Dunbartonshire	379
West Lothian	733
No Value*	15
All Scotland	28,242

Note: *The address verification process requires a valid post code in order to assign the address to a local authority. Occasionally with new builds the post code is not available with the Ordnance Survey data used by the database and therefore cannot be assigned to a local authority via the verification process. The post code data in the database is updated regularly and as it is updated the properties are assigned to the relevant local authority area.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29735 on 16 December 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Energy Assistance Package adopts an holistic approach to tackle fuel poverty: helping to maximise household incomes though benefits and tax credit checks; reducing fuel bills by providing advice on wise energy use and access to social tariffs and improving the energy performance of the poorest performing Scottish homes by providing a package of measures for those most vulnerable to fuel poverty.

Statistical Information is not held at constituency level.

The Scottish Government funds the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to provide free, comprehensive energy saving advice through the Energy Saving Scotland advice centres. Advisors signpost any callers reporting debt issues to appropriate money advice services.

EST manage the Energy Assistance Package (EAP) for the Scottish Government. EAP is a holistic approach to tackling fuel poverty that addresses both the home and the householder and includes services to maximise income, reduce fuel bills and improve energy efficiency. The package is supported by a budget of over £60 million in 2009-10.

Domestic energy suppliers have a number of licence obligations in relation to debt and disconnection and performance against these is monitored by the industry regulator Ofgem. Suppliers are required to report their performance to Ofgem on a quarterly and annual basis and data is published on the Ofgem website.

The total number of gas and electricity disconnections in Scotland due to debt in 2008 and the first two quarters of 2009 is provided in the table below. The information is not available broken down by Scottish parliamentary constituency.

	2008	January to March 2009	April to June 2009
Gas	248	21	91
Electricity	368	14	24