Northern Ireland-Confusion with farm payments.
NORTHERN IRELAND-Farm payment confusion
Ulster Unionist MLA, Tom Elliott, has expressed his concern at reports that payment practices at the Department of Agricultural and Rural Development are in the process of being centralised with those of other departments under the umbrella of, ’Account NI’, a new Civil Service Agency.
In a statement, the Fermanagh and South Tyrone representative said "Whilst I would welcome any development that could speed up the ridiculous length of time it currently takes for European entitlements to get from Brussels to the farmers accounts, I find from experience that adding in an additional agency into the mix rarely, if ever, adds to efficiency.
"Possibly it may instead enable DARD to continue to wash their hands of any responsibility for delays in the Single Farm Payment or other grants. I would call on the Minister to clarify what the situation is and what future plans are concerning expansion of this new system.
"For years I have been campaigning for improvements in the time it takes for farmers to receive their payments, and the obvious means of doing so is to reduce the mind numbing amounts of bureaucracy that DARD and the EU currently require."
"I have now heard rumours that changes are proposed involving moving the payment issue from the Department to this new Agency. If this is the situation, can we have the Ministers categorical assurance that payments will arrive promptly when due and farmers will not be required to jump through yet more bureaucratic hoops?
If on the other hand these rumours are unfounded can she tell what steps she has taken within the Department to ease the payment process and ensure support arrives when needed?"
Mr Elliott explained that Account NI is a new agency responsible for processing financial transactions, such as Purchases, Invoice processing, Travel costs and Subsistence claims, for Departments within the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
It has been tasked to develop a central transaction processing service, with the aim of Departments being able to focus more on decision support and financial management. Over half of the Assembly departments are now part of this new system, including DARD, which has been using it for staff expenses, purchases etc. since the start of April this year. In response to our query on the back of Mr Elliott’s complaint, DARD referred our query to the Department of Finance and Personnel.
Its spokeswoman stated: "Account NI, a Shared Service Centre(SSC) within the Department of Finance and Personnel, is responsible for financial transaction processing and accounting system support to NICS Departments.
"All Departments will have moved onto the new system by July 2009. The aim of Account NI is to provide improved effectiveness and efficiency through a common system and sharing of resources.
"The establishment of Account NI does not change the way in which European Entitlements are determined, and this remains a matter for DARD.
"The current automated process used by DARD for the disbursement of these funds has been replicated by Account NI and customers should not therefore notice any change. Account NI will continue to work closely with DARD on this matter."
