Claims for BSP bring plethora of inspections
Claims for BSP bring plethora of inspections
CUMBRIA farmer Brian Howson says he cant understand why he has been subjected to a series of on-farm inspections after almost every claim he has made for Beef Special Premium payments over the past two years.
In 1999 he was visited by MAFF staff four times and last year he made two applications for BSP and was inspected on both occasions.
MAFF staff have never found any discrepancies with Mr Howsons paperwork or stock documentation.
When he has questioned what he sees as the "unreasonable regularity" of the farm inspections he has been told by MAFF that inspections are simply due to a random selection undertaken by computer.
MAFF has told Mr Howson that once the computer identifies a claimant randomly it has to be inspected even if the claimant has been selected several times before.
"Sometimes I have been given as little as one hours notice about a MAFF inspection of all the stock documentation, passports and movement books.
"And as well as the time I have to waste while the inspectors check the paperwork we then have to check tag numbers of cattle. That can involve my wife and farm staff, which stops all work on the farm. And if cattle are at grass they have to be gathered. It is time consuming."
Mr Howson says he finds it surprising by the law of averages that his farm address keeps coming up on the MAFF computer. "I find it remarkable that this keeps happening."
A spokesman for MAFF said there was a random element covering inspections, but the size of the BSP claim and the period of the year in which the claim was made did have a bearing on the computer selection process. *