FARMING Minister Lord Rooker has sought to calm fears that continuing problems with last year's farm payments will mean difficulties for this year's scheme by confirming that he still expects payments to begin next month. Environment Secretary David Miliband promised last November that all farmers would receive at least 50 per cent of their 2006 Single Payment Scheme claims within three weeks of the middle of February.The re-assurance was made as the Minister held the first of a new series of weekly "surgeries", allowing MPs to go directly to him about ongoing problems and tricky applications.  More than a dozen spoke to him about problems faced by their constituents, including senior Tory frontbenchers and Yorkshire MPs. The meeting came a week before Mr Miliband faces his monthly question time session in the Commons, where he is expected to face questions about the fact that the true picture of unresolved cases - revealed in the Yorkshire Post - stands at around 19,000, more than 10 times the figure suggested by Government statistics. Last night, Shadow Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said: "It was clear at the meeting that a lot of the problems brought up were among the 19,000 unresolved cases. "The fact is that so many are still far from resolved and it seems that the most frustrating thing for farmers is that they're not being told what progress is being made, if any. "It doesn't bode well for farmers who are supposed to be receiving cheques for 2006 next month. "How can they get accurate payments for this year when last year's are unresolved?" Scarborough and Whitby MP  Robert Goodwill  said: "Lord Rooker was helpful and keen to solve the cases brought forward but, of course, those raised by the MPs present were only the tip of the iceberg. We need to be put in the picture by Mr Miliband about what exactly is going on here." Former Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin, who now acts as David Cameron's policy chief, called the situation of late and overdue payments "a nightmare" and asked: "Will it ever end?". Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Duncan added: "I still have so many unpaid farmers. "It's a pain that they should be forced to endure for any longer."  27 JanuaryYorkshire Post