"Weak" IT systems are hampering the payment of farming
subsidies, according to MPs on the
Public Account Committee.
The Rural Payments Agency overpaid farmers by a total of £37m in
2005 and 2006. Over half of farmers' payments in those years were
incorrectly calculated, partly because of poor IT,
a report on the Single Payment System (SPS) found.
Committee chair Edward Leigh said that many farmers have still
not been told when they will have to repay the money, or by how
much.
"Restoring farmers' confidence will depend on the Agency's
improving its business processes and IT systems to the point where
it can process claims efficiently and promptly and tell farmers
when they are likely to be paid."
The cost of the project now exceeds £300, £50m more than
originally planned.
"The Agency's service to farmers is still undermined by
weaknesses in its IT systems, such as its inability to provide
farmers with a predicted amount and payment date to assist them
with their financial planning," the report said.
The
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
"chose to implement the most complex option of reform in the
shortest possible timescale," the PAC concluded. The Agency "badly
underestimated the scale of the task".
This led to delays in making payments to farmers, erroneous
payments and additional project and administrative costs.
The UK government may now be fined hundreds of millions of
pounds by the European Commission for failing to properly implement
the scheme, the PAC said.
The report is the
second PAC report to criticise the system.
The SPS is a farming subsidy paid according to how much land
farmers own. In 2005 it replaced subsidies that paid farmers
according to what they produced.