Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has a history of failure when developing...
Conclusion
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has a history of failure when developing systems to support subsidy payments for farmers, and this history means that it is starting with a low level of trust from the sector.30 In 2016, the previous Committee examined the Department’s delivery of new systems and processes to support the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy, which was itself intended to address past failures. It found that this has been unsuccessful in many respects, and that repeated failures in the delivery of the CAP meant that payments to farmers had been delayed at a time when their cashflow was already stretched.31 The previous Committee examined the programme again in 2017 and found that the extent of the Rural Payments Agency’s (the RPA’s) failure to pay farmers in England on time and in full was clear. The RPA paid only 38% of farmers on 1 December 2015, the first day when payments could be made, compared to 90% in previous years. By the end of March 2016, 16% of farmers still had not received any payment. It concluded that in addition to the RPA being unable to pay farmers the money they were due on time, the Department had not assessed the impact of this on farmers and the rural community.32 The Department recognised that the trust of farmers would be critical to the success of its new schemes.33 Designing the scheme with farmers
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5: PAC conclusion: The Department has not yet done enough to gain farmers’ trust in its ability to successfully deliver the programme. 5: PAC recommendation: The Department should review its entire communications strategy and report to us by the end of March 2022 on the improvements it is making. The Department should also set out how it will incentivise young farmers both to enter, and to remain, in the industry. 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: end of March 2022 5.2 The government is in the first year of the transition, so it is to be expected that there is still more to do to build trust and confidence in the reforms, much of which will come only when the government successfully launch new schemes, and those schemes work effectively for farmers. 5.3 The government has started that process, since the Committee took evidence in October 2021, including successfully launching a resilience scheme, two rounds of the Farming Investment Fund which has been significantly over-subscribed, and the Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot where the government attracted its target level of participation with 938 farmers applying to take part with a good a range of geography, farm types, ownership/tenancy and farm sizes. 5.4 The government agrees with the Committee that it is important to build trust in the reforms and that is why the government is investing significant effort in co-designing new schemes with farmers, engaging with the sector, and communicating with them about the changes that are coming, as well as improving operational performance and making inspections and controls fairer and more proportionate. The government will continue and extend these activities throughout 2022 and beyond. 5.5 Since the launch of Agricultural Transition Plan in 2020, the government has embarked on a significant stakeholder engagement and communications approach to the sector. 5.6 The government is engaging much more closely with a wider group of stakeholders and routinely using a multi-channel communications approach to reach farmers through digital and non-digital channels, including through trusted intermediaries as well as directly and through farming media, as the government rolls out new policies. 5.7 The government strategy is working in terms of raising awareness of and building trust in the changes, as seen with early take up of the government productivity grants and Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pilot, and a 40% increase in applications for Countryside Stewardship agreements between 2021 and 2022. 5.8 However, the government recognises that there is more to do. As the government rolls out the new schemes and progresses through the transition, it will need to continue to communicate widely and effectively, including more direct communications with farmers to