The government has again requested farmers help in cutting their administrative burden as it ploughs on with the highly controversial ‘red-tape challenge’, which seeks to reduce regulation and bureaucracy across several sectors.  

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Defra has announced a workshop with the NFU to support this in which the department wants to hear from farmers about the information they have to provide. Eight to ten farmers from each of the farming sectors will discuss the issue of administration at the NFU headquarters in Stoneleigh as part of the government’s ‘red tape challenge’.

Defra said it will use the information to “Inform its understanding of the current burdens on each farming sector, with the aim of streamlining processes so that, in the future, the minimum amount of necessary data is collected in the easiest possible way.”

However, although many farmers will welcome the challenge as a chance to streamline the amount of administrative work they are forced to complete, aspects of the government’s plans have caused concern amongst environmentalists and conservationist farmers. Some are concerned that the moves could represent a step backwards, away from an impressive environmental track record, which includes securing the return of otters to every county in the UK and efforts to reverse losses of farmland birds, which have had great success.

Cabinet Minister Oliver Letwin has reportedly proposed slashing environmental regulation from thousands of pages to just 50 to reduce the burden on businesses.  When facing questioning by the Environmental Audit Committee over the plans, Defra Minister Caroline Spelman refused to confirm or deny whether her department had discussed doing away with the vast majority of environmental regulation.

Ms Spelman said the object of the red tape challenge is to, "[Make] sure that you protect the purpose for which the regulation was put in place, but relieve the regulation where it's a duplication or where there is any gold-plating, to relieve the burden on business," which appears to directly contradict her department's claims that Britain should be seeking new export markets, where British goods are highly desirable due to their reputation for quality and impeccable animal welfare standards and undermines the achievements of farmers who engage in conservation practices.

The Defra Minister has this week been in Yorkshire on the first of a series of engagements which will see her liaising with representatives of relevant sectors and the newly created Rural Farming Networks to push the government’s policies, which she says will “Help business thrive in rural areas.”

On the first of her Rural Roadshows, the Defra head denied that government policy was putting rural communities and businesses at a disadvantage. The coalition’s decision to do away with the Committee for Rural Communities, a rural watchdog which updates government on its affect on rural communities has been heavily criticised.

At the same time, the Welsh government has announced its Welsh Government’s ‘Working Smarter’ report, which lists 74 recommendations to cut red tape for farmers.

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