Johnston McNeill got a £20k bonus

Defra is still paying Mr McNeill (pictured above) his full salary of £114,000 a year, despite removing him from office six months ago, in March 2006. The National Audit Office’s (NAO) report this week heavily criticised Defra for failing to resolve the former chief executive’s position.

Report director Philip Gibby said if his removal from office was for poor performance, then he should be dismissed. “Leaving someone on full pay is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

In total, Mr McNeill received more than £60,000 in bonuses between 2002 and 2005. A Defra spokesman said the bonuses related to specific public performance targets achieved by the former chief executive.

MPs are now expected to force Mr McNeill to appear before the Public Accounts Committee later this month to explain the agency’s failings during his time in charge.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said it would take years for farmers’ faith in the agency to be restored and that its ‘dismal handling of Single Payment Scheme should be recorded in a civil service textbook as an example of what not to do’.

However, TFA chief executive George Dunn warned against heaping all the blame on Mr McNeill and said Defra gave him an ‘undeliverable task’.