The Rural Payments Agency has been lambasted
for its "staggering incompetence" in handling the administration of
single payments.
A cross party group of MPs slammed the
agency for wasting more than £600m of tax payers' money in
unforeseen administration costs, overpayments to farmers and
fines.
Branding the RPA's three-year handling of
the scheme as a "master class of misadministration", the committee
of public accounts said disastrous IT systems and stressful delays
for farmers awaiting payments meant the agency's managers should
"hang their heads in shame".
Edward Leigh, MP and committee chairman, said
the agency had imposed a much more complex payments system on
English farmers than any other country.
"On top of that, it now costs almost
£2000 per person to administer each claim. It's staggering," he
told a meeting on the progress of single payment administration in
London on Monday (26 October).
It had cost the agency £350m to
administer £1.6bn to 100,000 farmers, a figure which would be
"completely unacceptable" in private industry.
Referring to a
National Audit
Office Report published earlier this month, which highlighted
the RPA's failings, Mr Leigh also criticised agency chief executive
Tony Cooper for failing to show leadership in what he called the
"biggest debacle" in the committee's history.
Mr Cooper admitted he had underestimated
the amount of work involved with processing claims, but said the
agency had worked hard to cut costs by reducing staff numbers and
streamlining payment systems.
DEFRA permanent secretary
Dame Helen Ghosh admitted it was "not a happy
experience" having to defend the RPA's "less than perfect service",
but said the agency had focused its attention on speeding up
payments and that the majority of farmers were receiving a better
service.
"The RPA is more efficient, costs have
gone down and there are 3000 fewer people working in DEFRA," she
said.
"Running costs have gone down by £50m.
The idea we haven't focused on value for money, I reject."
But Dame Helen admitted the agency had
not paid enough attention to the amount of over-payments made to
farmers, a figure Mr Leigh said could be as much as £90m and was
unlikely to be recovered.
Mr Leigh also challenged Dame Helen on
why English farmers lagged behind the rest of Europe in getting
their payments on time.
The committee heard that by December
2008, 59% of English farmers received their payments compared to
87% of Welsh farmers, 83% of Northern Ireland farmers and 76% of
Scottish farmers.
Dame Helen said the majority of farmers
were getting their payments on a 12-monthly cycle and said
questions needed to be asked over how much more money tax payers
would be happy to invest to speed up the process further.
"I don't believe there's any argument for
saying we want to pay everyone in December," she added.
What the committee said:
Committee: "The system isn't working for farmers.
We can trust nothing the RPA says. It's simply
unacceptable."
Committee: "I am struck by the
complacency you show... You should be hanging your heads in
shame."
Dame Helen Ghosh: "It's not a happy
experience to come here and have to continue to discuss less than
perfect service to farmers... but we have seen
improvements."
Tony Cooper: "We now have a better
understanding of the work that's needed to pay entitlements. I had
underestimated what was involved."
Dame Helen Ghosh: "There are 3000 fewer
people working in DEFRA. Running costs have gone down by about
£50m. The idea we haven't focused on value for money, I
reject."