The CLA today welcomed plans by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) to create a more efficient system to ensure farmers are paid promptly and accurately, but said it is vital the Agency measures its improved performance.
The Association said Farming Minister Jim Paice’s support for the RPA and his commitment to improve it further with the newly published Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) should help to ensure the Agency is in the best possible shape to deal with new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) schemes.
CLA Deputy President Henry Robinson said: "The RPA has been turned around dramatically during the past 12 months thanks to the support of Jim Paice. We are pleased the RPA is making plans now to deliver the reformed CAP but it is important the efficacy of the Plan is evaluated to ensure real progress is made.
"The RPA’s past inability to make accurate and timely payments to farmers has cost the UK millions of pounds in European Commission fines and forced some businesses into financial hardship. Its computer system is still shockingly outdated, resulting in compounding problems year on year. This is simply not acceptable."
Mr Robinson added: "As the RPA strives to do better we would like to see more challenging payment targets for the 2012 Single Payment Scheme and expect it to work harder to prevent disallowance fines rather than seeking not to increase them."
