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Agriculture subsidies
30/12/2008
Procedures for appealing against European agriculture subsidies are to be improved.
Sixteen of the seventeen recommendations made by a review team led by former NFU President John Kinnaird have been accepted, including the principle of an independent appeals procedure.
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead undertook to respond to the review by the end of year when it reported in November.
Mr Lochhead said:
"This review was commissioned in response to concerns that the current process is too inflexible, takes too long and that officials exert too much influence by deciding the outcomes of appeals. I have spent the past few weeks carefully considering the recommendations put forward by John Kinnaird's review team.
"We are committed to helping the farming industry - and the rural communities they support - in whatever way we can and I am pleased to be able to respond positively to virtually every recommendation. By accepting these recommendations, I hope we can create an even more open and constructive relationship between farmers and their local agricultural offices and make the guidance and forms for subsidy much clearer and easier to understand.
"Work has now begun on implementing the recommendations we are able to accept, including the principle of an independent appeals procedure. I have asked officials to explore how an independent appeals process can be best delivered and to examine the options including extending the remit of an existing organisation or by part of government. It is important to bear in mind that creating a new agency would require primary legislation and parliamentary time and we are keen to get an independent process up and running quickly. We would only wish to go down the road of a new agency if there was no alternative.
"One recommendation we are not persuaded by is calling for a farm liaison team made up of Government and industry representatives. We accept the principle behind the recommendation of a team but rather than additional expense being incurred to create a new team we have agreed with Mr Kinnaird that current procedures for assisting farmers should be enhanced. A number of measures will be put in place, including increased attendance by officials at local shows to help the agricultural community deal with the potential difficulties they face.
"I know farmers understand that there will always be circumstances where applications for support payments are turned down but I am confident that we can now take steps to ensure many of the concerns over the current appeals system are addressed."
The Review Team's recommendations are as follows:
ETHOS
Reinstatement of a positive and constructive relationship between the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspection Directorate (RPID) Area Offices and their local farming or crofting communities so that local officers are able to offer more positive assistance to claimants in relation to the various scheme rules, always consistent with their responsibilities to administer these schemes and carry out their regulatory functions under them properly.
Dialogue between government and bodies such as the NFUS, SCF and SRPBA (Scottish Rural Property and Business Association) with a view to agreeing the terms of an understanding similar to the Charter of Rights for Farmers produced by the government of the Republic of Ireland in conjunction with the IFA.
The creation of a Farm Liaison Team or teams with a view to improving awareness of the various aid scheme requirements among the farming and crofting communities and helping, in appropriate ways, individual farmers who have particular difficulties (farm liaison team not being taken forward - see above).
Liaison between RPID Area Offices and said Farm Liaison Team for the purposes of identifying claimants in need of assistance with things such as understanding of regulations and completion of claim forms and delivering such assistance to them (being taken forward in principle, though not through farm liaison team - see above).
The creation of a forum comprising RPID officials and representatives of the farming and crofting communities and chaired by an independent chairman for discussion of, and if possible agreement on, matters of mutual concern.
Promotion, to a greater extent than is currently the case, of the realisation that there are no dangers, in terms of EU sanction, in a government helping its claimants get things right and consequent relaxation of the climate of fear (of EU sanction) which presently inhibits such an approach.
APPLICATION FORMS AND GUIDANCE
Guidance material should highlight points of potential difficulty, such as a change in the rules or an unusual definition of an agricultural term, by the use of imaginative design and, in particular, variation of colour, print size and font.
Greater efforts be made to produce forms which are easy to follow and which are conducive to errors being identified as such when checked by RPID staff.
Where necessary use should be made of skilled, independent advice in the matter of form design.
Greater use should be made of the information obtained from "S" check data capture in order to improve form design.
Submission of claim forms by electronic means should be encouraged so that more people obtain the advantage of a computer check of their forms at the outset.
Claimants, for their part, acknowledge their responsibility for the correct completion of their claims by reading guidance material thoroughly, completing their forms carefully including taking advice if necessary, and, having done all of that, submitting their claims sufficiently far ahead of the deadline to allow area office officials to check the same and identify errors in time for corrective action to be taken in accordance with scheme rules.
STRUCTURAL AND PROCEDURAL REFORM
Abolition of the present system.
Its replacement with an independent Appeals Agency, created by statute, chaired by a legally qualified Director and with (a) access to a panel of experienced lay members to assist in appropriate cases and (b) a staff wholly independent of Scottish Ministers whose job it would be to process appeals with due care and attention and on reasonable timescales having regard to the complexity of individual cases (being taken forward as described above)
Retention of a right of appeal to the Scottish Land Court but only on a question of law.
In addition to such a right of appeal, provision for fast tracking cases involving only questions of law to the Scottish Land Court.
SCOPE OF NEW SYSTEM
All appeals relating to agricultural or environmental aid schemes, including appeals from the new Rural Development Programmes, should be handled by the new Appeals Agency and in accordance with the scheme set out in this report.