The leaders of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and Tenant Farmers’ Association (TFA) met DEFRA minister Lord Davies and Rural Payments Agency chief Tony Cooper last week to discuss Single Payment Scheme (SPS) and mapping issues which have flared up in recent weeks.
In the wake of the “disastrous” introduction of the SPS in England and the sacking of the RPA's Johnston McNeill, the bodies claim they have been supportive of the RPA and its new senior management team tried, but “over the last year it has become increasingly clear that the RPA is in deep trouble and [it is] unable to function effectively”.
The bodies dispute the RPA’s existing maps, the lack of other maps and claimed contradictions between inspection findings and issued maps, ahead of the deadline for farmers to submit SPS forms to the RPA on 17 May - a date the bodies want to defer.
On the mapping issues, the bodies want the RPA to provide assurances that farmers will not be penalised for mistakes that are not of their doing and produce some clear, stand-alone guidance about the approach it will take in relation to "incorrectly declared field areas".
In a joint statement, the bodies called upon DEFRA and the RPA to make concrete contingency plans with regards to part payments to the SPS in December 2010.
“Farmers should not be the ones picking up the bill for the RPA’s inability to deliver and we look to ministers, current and future, to ensure that they do not,” the statement said.
It continued: “We must see action from the RPA instead of excuses based on ‘entitlement correction’ and ‘legacy’ issues. Partial payments must be actively considered in every case and implemented wherever possible.
“What we have said is in no way a reflection on the RPA’s frontline staff. From our members’ feedback, we know that they are doing their best in difficult circumstances to answer queries and progress claims. We appreciate their efforts and thank them for their patience in dealing with frustrated and anxious farmers.
“[The RPA] has lost our confidence and the confidence of our members. An urgent and honest root and branch review, backed up by a willingness to tear up the whole blueprint and start again, is vital if we are to have any chance of reaching a steady state as far as delivery of SPS and Environmental Stewardship schemes are concerned.”
NFU president Peter Kendall, CLA president William Worsley, president and TFA national chairman Greg Bliss attended the meeting.
No comments yet