Agriculture Minister Jim Paice updated Parliament today on the progress of payments to farmers under the Single Payment Scheme.

image expired

Mr Paice said work has progressed on the Rural Payment Agency’s Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) and that the new RPA management team is already taking forward some components. However, he offered some caveats, including a warning of delays to the scheme’s publication.

He said, "As there may be public expenditure implications, it has been necessary to factor in additional time for scrutiny and approvals processes before the plan can be finalised." Paice forecast that the SIP will now not be ready for publication until early next year.

He said the RPA had been undertaking corrective action on the remaining known legacy data problems alongside the processing the 2011 SPS claims. Paice announced that work to correct known error cases remains on track, and is expected to be completed by the end of the payment window (30th June 2012). He also revealed outstanding top up payments from 2010 and longstanding claims have also already been completed.   

The farming minister also pledged to meet two indicators agreed to by the RPA Oversight board. These are:

• By the end of December 2011 to have paid a minimum of 86% of eligible claimants and 78% of the total estimated value; and
• By the end of March 2012 to have paid a minimum of 95% of both the eligible claimants and the total estimated value.

The minister said these indicators reflect a change in the focus of the Agency’s efforts towards processing the more difficult cases at an earlier stage, which he outlined earlier in the year.

Paice said each individual indicator for 2011 betters or matches performance under any previous scheme year even though the agency is operating with a much reduced budget, though he acknowledged, "There remains some distance to go before I could be happy that farmers are receiving the service they deserve."

The RPA has been subject to scrutiny since 2006, when a damning report from the Efra committee slammed the agency’s overspend on its IT systems and lack of activity in administering Single Farm Payments.