Defra set to miss red tape reduction target

The Department has delivered a 16 per cent reduction in farm red tape since 2005 and it expects to fall short of a promise to reduce the burden by a quarter before the end of May this year.

Instead, Defra estimates it will reduce the £460 million administrative burden by 20 per cent.

Jim Paice, Shadow Farm Minister, has slammed the failure to meet its self-imposed target which he says will cost farm businesses at least £25 million.

“Defra has had five years to meet this target and still they are way off course, which says a lot about the commitment of Ministers to easing burdens on farmers,” said Mr Paice.

“Few in the industry will recognise that regulations have been cut at all. This is probably because the Government’s calculations ignore the significant capital costs of compliance, such as new slurry storage facilities under the Nitrates Directive.

“So not only is the Government missing its target to cut the burden of paperwork and form-filling, it is failing to measure the more substantial costs of regulation, which could well be escalating,” he added.

However, a Defra spokesman said substantial savings were being offered to farmers.

“Since 2005 Defra has already delivered savings of £110m per year and we’re due to increase that to savings of £130m per year by May 2010,” said the spokesman.

He added Defra would continue to reduce the costs of complying with legislation under new 2010-2015 cross-government targets.

But Mr Paice said it was too little, too slow.

“If we want farmers to operate in an open market there is a responsibility on government to get serious about cutting the total regulatory burden.

“Conservatives will move towards a system which measures outcomes not process and trust farmers to do what they do best, which is produce high quality food in harmony with the environment,” said Mr Paice.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name