NFU: Defra was warned about payment problems

Thursday, 29, Mar 2007 12:00

The president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has said the findings of a select committee report into the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) were "no surprise".

The environment, food and rural affairs committee described the late or non-payment of farmers as an "embarrassing failure".

Peter Kendall said: "It comes as no surprise to me to see the contents of this report because we told Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the RPA this payment method was bound to cause problems. We said it was over-complicated and over-bureaucratic but our comments fell on deaf ears."

He added: "Committee chairman Michael Jack says if accountability is to mean anything then the position of the people responsible for this debacle needs to be questioned.

"As far as I'm concerned the senior people responsible have moved on and are no longer concerned with farming issues and most of my members are grateful for that."

"It is truly terrible this saga has cost farmers about £20m of their money and untold stress. We don't yet know what it will cost Defra in fines," warned Mr Kendall.