While some aspects of the reform will be applicable from 1 January 2014, the majority, including the new payments structure, will apply from 2015 in order to allow Member States time to inform farmers about new arrangements and to adapt computer-based CAP management systems.

The promise from EU leaders was for a ‘greener, fairer and less bureaucratic CAP’. The resulting agreement leaves a great deal of flexibility for Member States to implement the reforms in a way which suits them. Furthermore, final decision on issues such as capping payments, co-financing, and the transfer of funds between pillars have been held over until the negotiations on the wider EU budget this autumn.

The EFRA Committee has agreed to undertake an inquiry to explore how the Government might implement the reformed Common Agricultural Policy in England.

The Committee seeks written evidence on the following:

Fairness

• Whether the UK’s implementation of CAP might put English farmers at a competitive disadvantage to their regional and European counterparts
• What steps the Government might take in implementing CAP to help tenant farmers and farmers in upland areas, and to take account of issues pertaining to common land

Bureaucracy

• What steps does the Government need to take to ensure the reformed CAP will be less bureaucratic than its predecessor and what might prevent this ambition from being achieved
• How might the Government define the minimum activity required for qualification as an ‘active farmer’

Greening

• How should the Government ensure that CAP delivers the best environmental benefits while supporting food production

Lessons learnt

• What are the principal lessons the Government should learn from the implementation of the previous CAP

Written submissions for this inquiry should be submitted online via the inquiry page

• CAP implementation 2014-2020 inquiry page

The deadline for submitting written evidence is Wednesday 9 October 2013. As a guideline submissions should state clearly who the submission is from e.g. ‘Written evidence submitted by xxxx’ and be no longer than 3000 words, please contact the Committee staff if you wish to discuss this.

Submissions must be a self-contained memorandum in Word or Rich Text Format (not pdfs). Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document should, if possible, include an executive summary.

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives, either by printing the evidence, publishing it on the internet or by making it publicly available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure; the Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing. The Clerk of the House of Commons is the data controller for the purposes of the Act.