I’m fed up with talking about the weather, but I can console myself with the fact we have grabbed every opportunity so far and progress is not too bad.RPA under fire from MPs
THE Public Accounts Committee has opened 'another damning chapter' into the Government’s handling of the Single Payment Scheme, Shadow Agriculture Minister Jim Paice has said.
A spokesman for the Rural Payments Agency admitted that more needed to be done to improve the system but countered that the performance of the scheme had improved significantly, with the Agency meeting all of its 2007 payment targets ahead of schedule.
But the influential Committee of MPs today (Tuesday, July 14) released a progress report that concluded farmers are still suffering from an RPA failure to administer the SPS in England.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Edward Leigh MP, said: “The Rural Payments Agency’s poor implementation of the Single Payment Scheme continues to cause problems for farmers. Most are being paid earlier than they were in 2005 but errors persist.”
He said that nearly 20,000 farmers’ entitlements under the 2005 and 2006 schemes were calculated incorrectly, overpayments to farmers in those two years totalled some £37 million and individual farmers who were overpaid have yet to be told by how much and when repayment will be required, adding to uncertainty for many farmers.
It is understood that many farmers may have unknowingly spent the money already.
Furthermore, the Committee reported that the RPA failings may induce a substantial EU fine.
“The European Commission could fine the Government hundreds of millions of pounds,” said Mr Leigh.
A spokesman from the RPA said no fines had yet been proposed by the European Commission beyond the £70m for late payments under the 2005 scheme and that 'any such proposals would be resisted by Defra'.
The Committee report also criticises Defra for choosing the most complex option for SPS implementation in the shortest possible timescale in 2005.
“Defra’s policy papers for Ministers did not highlight all the risks of implementing this complex scheme against such a tight deadline, especially given that some other Member States took a more measured approach. Defra should check its processes for examining and challenging the assumptions in its policy proposals.”
Shadow Defra minister Jim Paice said that the report showed 'shocking and costly' incompetence from Defra.
“Farmers and taxpayers cannot keep footing the bill for Defra failure. Ministers must get a grip of the situation once and for all,” he said.
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