Farming agency chief in payments promise

The chief executive of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), Mark Grimshaw, told the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) that the organisation would meet its target of paying just over 95 per cent of farmers by the end of June.

The agency boss even said that he had set his staff an internal target of making just over 99 per cent of payments by the deadline, a target which exceeds that of the European Commission.

Mr Grimshaw was appearing before the House of Commons committee after the RPA found itself under fire again following the announcement in March that thousands of farmers would again face delays in getting their Single Farm Payment cheques, with poor organisational problems continuing to besmirch the agency’s reputation.

Delayed and inaccurate payments by the RPA to farmers have seen the agency become one of the most maligned Government departments in recent times.

The RPA’s poor record has seen the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs fined millions of pounds by the European Commission and led to two highly critical reviews, most notably being described in a National Audit Office report as “masterclass in maladministration”.

But Mr Grimshaw said that current delays in payments were “not a staffing matter” and that issues were related to the “target system”. He told MPs that the system had led to a culture within the RPA wherein workers were looking to make payments quickly rather than focus on accuracy, a process he described as being “volume now and value later”.

He also said the RPA was now “absolutely focused” on improving the speed of payments and their accuracy. He also denied rumours put to him by the EFRA chairman, Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh, that the RPA’s Northallerton office was employing sixth form students to help cope with the current backlog.

“I am not aware of sixth formers doing that sort of work,” he said. “We currently employ around 26 people from agencies and they all have a financial qualification.”

Miss McIntosh also had questions for the RPA’s corporate owner, Katrina Williams, citing that she was still receiving complaints from her constituents that they were still awaiting payments.

Ms Williams said that training issues were being addressed within the agency to improve payments and that Mr Grimshaw’s previous work in revamping the heavily criticised Child Support Agency made him an ideal choice for the RPA role.

Mr Grimshaw also told MPs that he and his team hoped to publish a long-term plan for the agency’s future later in the year. He said the agency’s often-criticised information technology system was gradually being improved and that farmers “should see claims being more accurate and going through more quickly by the end of the 2011-12 claim year”.

He added that as of Tuesday this week some 93.61 per cent of the fund value had been paid to farmers.

“I have set an internal target to get to 99 per cent of value that’s payable by the end of June,” he said. “To pay in the payment window is one of the challenges I have picked up from Jim Paice and the Department.”