Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Public Expenditure
(asked on 28th March 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will detail the losses and special payments valued at under £300,000 for his departmental group as defined by section A4.10.7 in HM Treasury's Managing Public Money for (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.
The losses and special payments valued at under £300,000 for the departmental group for the years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 as already held on the record of losses for the public sector organisations within the departmental group, in accordance with Managing Public Money (Annex A4.10.7), or as otherwise held for the purposes of special payment disclosures, are set out below. These disclosures are consistent with the organisations’ obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018.
(a) 2018-19
Loss / Special Payment | Amount (£) | Description |
Loss | 137,750.00 | 1 project that the European Court of Auditors reduced the project value, resulting in a reduction of £137,750 |
Loss | 122,157.55 | 2 projects were subject to Legal proceedings by MMO (Marine Management Organisation). The applicant was found guilty, but the Court judgement was that funding could not be recovered. |
Loss | 64,239.52 | 2 projects where the company is bankrupt and administrators have advised repayment of grant is unlikely |
Loss | 32,559.55 | 9 projects paid at incorrect intervention rate totalling £32,559.55. The irregularity was detected by Audit and covered the period from 2010 - 15. |
Loss | 9,997.88 | 1 Project subject to both Ombudsman referral and MMO Legal consideration |
Loss | 3,449.67 | Invoice number 1000052670 dated 17 June 2015 for £5,249.67 to recover a salary overpayment. Regular repayments had been made but these ceased in January 2017. SSCL have been unable to contact person & there has been no response to the final notice that SSCL (Shared Services Connected Ltd) sent in May 2017. |
Loss | 2,577.94 | 1 project was subject to overpayment, which was detected after final payment at the end of the EFF (European Fisheries Fund) scheme. Identified as part of formal EFF closure activity. |
Loss | 1,897.81 | 3 Projects were detected by Audit activities during the course of the Programme and total £1,897.81. One project was overpaid due to exchange rate calculation, one refused to repay the small OP and cited bankruptcy, with the final applicant being untraceable from 2015. |
Loss | 1,469.90 | Invoice 1000064304 dated 22 April 2016 for £1,469.90 to recover an overpayment of a season ticket advance. SSCL have been unable to contact him & there has been no response to the final notice that SSCL sent in May 2017. |
Loss | 1,108.94 | Damage to cage traps used during badger control culling operation for bovine TB disease controls in 2018 by anti culling activists. 12 cage traps were damaged beyond repair. |
Loss | 580.35 | System error which added an incorrect VAT sum to an invoice. Beyond legal recovery period. |
Loss | 454.14 | Paid £587.50 to wrong supplier. Partially recovered in legacy. Beyond legal recovery period. |
Loss | 193.52 | Travel reimbursement paid to wrong employee who left shortly after. Would require full trace at circa £50 plus staff time to find sufficient records to instigate plus potential chasing costs. Uneconomic to recover. |
Loss | 101.46 | Land line phone calls billed after employee left. Would require full trace at circa £50 plus staff time to find sufficient records to instigate plus potential chasing costs. Uneconomic to recover. |
Loss | 44.40 | Legacy system error which added VAT. Beyond legal recovery period. |
Loss | 42.24 | Credit note for 2 invoices paid in legacy system which was partially recovered in final payment to supplier in February 2012. Beyond legal recovery period. |
Loss | 27.97 | Personal mobile calls billed after employee left. Beyond legal recovery period. |
Loss | 27.00 | SSCL have advised that the remaining balance on the invoice of £27.00 has arisen due to the deduction of bank charges from the customer's payment and exchange rate variances. As the customer is based overseas it is uneconomical to pursue. |
Loss | 5.90 | Personal mobile calls billed after employee left. Uneconomic to recover. |
Loss | 0.23 | Personal mobile calls billed after employee left. Uneconomic to recover. |
Loss | 0.01 | Invoice 1000064804 dated 30 April 2016 for £24,000. This invoice was raised to recover Defra's incorrect payment of invoice 1129585 on 16th March 2016. The invoice has been part paid but given the outstanding amount of £0.01, it is uneconomical to pursue the remaining balance. |
Special Payment | 3,250.00 | A consolatory payment of £3,250 has been recommended by the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman (PHSO). £500 has been paid leaving an outstanding balance of £2,750. PHSO found that there had been maladministration by Defra in relation to the online portal in relation to the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones scheme and that someone had suffered injustice from Defra |
Special Payment | 119.00 | Request for a replacement of a damaged item of clothing - A member of staff had their jacket damaged by a fire door whilst on duty on MMO premises. |
(b) 2019-20
Loss / Special Payment | Amount (£) | Description |
Loss | 20,395.66 | Damage to cage traps, GPS trackers and smart phone with tracking devices used during badger control culling operation for bovine TB (Tuberculosis) disease controls in 2019 by anti culling activists. 5 cage traps, 178 smart phones and 8 trackers were damaged beyond repair. |
Special Payment | 54,596.00 | Derbyshire Lunar Cull – costs to company after cancelled cull programme. |
Special Payment | 5,000.00 | HR staff case (sensitive and details not for circulation outside of Defra Finance and HR teams). |
Special Payment | 1,224.00 | Judicial Review / Costs of cancelled mediation to claimant’s solicitors. |
Special Payment | 1,000.00 | Allegations of failure to arrange reasonable adjustments. |
Special Payment | 75.00 | Missing personal property. |
(c) 2020-21
Loss / Special Payment | Amount (£) | Description |
Loss | 240,257.00 | Historic invoicing not recovered |
Loss | 15,597.62 | Damage to cage traps, GPS (Global Positioning System) trackers and smart phones/sims with tracking devices used during badger control culling operation for bovine TB disease controls in 2020 by anti culling activists. 2 cage traps, 132 smart phones and 38 trackers were damaged beyond repair. |
Loss | 1,445.04 | TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)) from EA (Environment Agency) to Defra. Came in on a TARA (Temporary Additional Responsibility Allowance) and her manager subsequently increased her TARA payments outside of existing policy. Her revised salary was confirmed to her by SSCL HR (Human Resources). Staff member was unaware this additional payment was not allowed. As no fault of the individual HR are proposing that this is written off rather than recovered |
Loss | 740.15 | Sick pay was entered on SOP incorrectly by her manager leading to overpayment of £740.15. Staff member has since died and as such HR do not want to pursue her estate for the recovery of the overpayment |
Special Payment | 9,000.00 | Race and Disability case. Settlement to offset tribunal costs. |
Special Payment | 8,500.00 | Reflects liability on the unfair dismissal claim |