Agriculture: Single Farm Payments

Lord Bishop of Hereford Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for what he has said about the staff in Defra. I have taken it on board and will pass it back to the department. However, there are some tough messages not only for the RPA but also for Defra itself as a result of the review of the agency that has been published today. I can also give the noble Lord an assurance that the RPA is already committed to not applying penalties in specific circumstance where a farmer has had an outstanding mapping query on a land parcel and as a result has estimated entries on his form.

[The Lord Bishop of Hereford]

My Lords, while recognising that the new mapping exercise has been necessary but also acknowledging the inaccuracies that have arisen, leading to far too many people having to seek support from both the Rural Stress Helpline and the Farm Crisis Network, can the noble Lord tell us what steps are being taken to ensure that any future updates that are needed will be done as efficiently and speedily as possible so as to reduce stress on claimants?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, as regards the mapping updates, I can assure the right reverend Prelate that we will look carefully at what is the best way of doing this and whether we should have more regular small-scale updates or less regular large-scale updates; either is possible. On his more general point about problems in the Rural Payments Agency, as I said earlier in answer to another question on another day, my honourable friend the Minister of State, Mr Jim Paice, has given an assurance that he will look hard at this matter and that he will personally chair the body which will overlook the changes to the RPA.