Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release entitled, Compensation scheme announced to support pollack fishers, published on 10 April 2024, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential (a) costs and (b) impact of setting the Pollack compensation scheme thresholds at different percentage levels.

The department made the required assessment ahead of the Ministerial Direction to evidence a range of options for consideration, which included costs. As part of the assessment, the department sought to balance supporting as many fishers who have been affected most by the zero Total Allowable Catch restrictions while bearing in mind the overall cost of the scheme.