Annex A: chronology of events 2005

7 January 2005

The then Defra Minister, Lord Whitty, sent a New Year’s message to readers of Farmers Guardian. The Minister, recognising that there remained a number of challenges ahead for the farming industry, said:
'We’ve seen the start of the biggest change in farming since the early 70s with CAP reform and the foundations laid for the introduction of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS).

'Everyone in the agricultural industry will feel the effects in some way. Also because of horrible weather, the harvest at one stage looked touch and go but the industry pulled through fairly successfully. The SPS simplifies the system by consolidating the ten existing major payment schemes – and some others – into one.

‘It will considerably reduce the administrative burden for many farmers. CAP reform will remove the perverse production incentives that compel farmers to chase subsidies.'

The Minister continued:

'I believe 2005 will present a major new opportunity for farmers to reconnect to markets and the consumer. For some, this new system will be a challenge – for others, it will be little different to the way they usually operate.

‘It is certainly a key time for business decisions. If payment entitlements are not established in 2005, the boat will be missed. Everyone will have to reconsider the future of their business to make the most of the new opportunities. And Defra, working with the industry, will play its part.'

11 January 2005

Defra announced by way of a press statement that RPA was holding a series of roadshow seminars at which farmers would be able to find out how to apply for the scheme.

18 January 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – green;
• scope of the project – amber;
• schedule – amber;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

19 January 2005

In a press statement entitled Single Payment Scheme in England: further information on payment date, RPA announced that it would start making payments to farmers in respect of the 2005 scheme year in February 2006.

RPA also provided an update on payment dates on its website. It said that 'the objective has always been to make payments as early as practicable within' the payment window and that this ‘remains the case’.

RPA said that 'farmers are naturally concerned to know when within that window they can expect to receive payments'. RPA said that it could ‘confirm that the most probable date for payments to start is February 2006. Therefore that is the earliest date to which farmers, their advisers and banks should plan'.

This announcement was also widely covered in the national, local and specialist press. For example, the Farmers Guardian reported on 21 January 2005 that an RPA spokesperson had told them that:

'… the intention had been to start making payments soon after December 1 but one or two delays had caused that date to slip a little bit.'

He explained the RPA was in the middle of its Change Programme, a huge restructuring of its much-maligned IT systems and processes. Coping with the introduction of a complex new farm payment system has further been complicated by the fact that the details of the scheme are regularly changing, he said.

January 2005

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC), as part of its Gateway review of RPA’s change management programme, which included the systems necessary to deliver the administration of the new Single Payment Scheme, said that:

'The review team found the programme is under strong leadership and has very visible Ministerial and Departmental support. However, there is no room for further change requests, which would lead the programme into serious difficulties and overload the operation of the Agency.'

'The issue of interim payments was discussed; such a concept, if implemented, would require additional changes, and as such may endanger the achievement of payments within the legal window. It should therefore be eliminated as a possibility following the completion of a clear and concise impact assessment.'

February 2005

RPA published the Single Payment Scheme Handbook and Guidance for England 2005. This explained the payment window but gave no further information about the planned timetable for payment to farmers.

However, RPA also published a further updated information leaflet about the Single Payment Scheme. This explained, under a heading 'When will I get my payment?', that the payment window opened on 1 December 2005 and closed on 30 June 2006. It continued that 'the objective is to make as many payments as practicable within that window'. The leaflet further explained that:

'… The RPA have announced that the most probable date for payments to start is February 2006. During autumn 2005, once all claims have been processed and validated, we will let you know the probable value of your entitlement.'

Also in February 2005, the Rural Development Service published two information booklets on Defra’s website. Entry Level Stewardship – Look after your land and be rewarded said 'Before you can apply for the new scheme, all the land which you intend to enter into the scheme must be on the Rural Land Register'. The Entry Level Stewardship Handbook – Terms and Conditions said 'All the land which you intend to enter into the scheme must be on the Rural Payment Agency’s Rural Land Register before you submit your application' [their emphasis].

16 February 2005

RPA began to issue specimen scheme application forms. A Defra press statement announcing this explained that the February 2005 update would include a sample, blank form.

The then Chief Executive of RPA was quoted as saying that:

'We want farmers to be able to familiarise themselves with the application form in advance of receiving the real one in late March/early April.'

‘By receiving a sample application form now, this will give farmers – and others who may not be familiar with IACS and will be applying to SPS – the opportunity to gather the information they will need to fill in their application, and also to seek any help they may need in advance of the 16 May application deadline.'

‘This year is the only opportunity that farmers will have to establish their entitlements and it is imperative to get their applications in on time. They won’t be able to establish entitlements next year – this is the one and only chance they will get.'

17 February 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – green;
• scope of the project – amber;
• schedule – amber;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

22 February 2005

The Financial Times reported that the then Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, had told the national conference of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) the previous day that she was 'bloody livid' at the delay to the planned commencement of scheme payments until February 2006. The Secretary of State’s speech was widely quoted in the press. For example, the Birmingham Post reported her as having said:

'I am more than disappointed – to be honest I am bloody livid. The NFU has been vocal as ever on this issue and put very strongly the anxieties and concerns that we understand very well.'

‘The problem has been exacerbated because we strongly believe the Rural Payments Agency is ripe for reform. There was a need for modernisation and improvement.'

‘We were already embroiled with changes before seeing the new reforms come along. The two processes have had to work together and that, in the long term, will be to everyone’s advantage.’

18 March 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – green;
• scope of the project – red;
• schedule – amber;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

25 March 2005

The NFU wrote to the then Countryside Minister, Elliott Morley, regarding what the industry press described as 'huge backlogs' in land registration on RPA’s Rural Land Register.

The NFU asked Defra to ensure that RPA devoted more staff time to land registration and relaxed the existing rules regarding the application process for participation in the Entry Level Scheme.

Noting that Defra would only accept applications for this Scheme on land which was already registered on the Rural Land Register digital maps, the deputy president of the NFU was quoted as saying:

'Farmers are keen to apply for the Entry Level Stewardship scheme and many want their agreements to start in August. We are asking Defra to be flexible and remove the barrier standing in the way of farmers applying in time for the August start date.'

‘Environmental Stewardship schemes will play a vital role in farm businesses following decoupling and will help the industry provide the environmental management of the land that the public demands.’

April 2005

RPA published its Corporate Plan 2004-05 to 2008-09. This set out the mission of RPA as being: 'to be a customer focused organisation delivering high quality services, including processing payments and receipts, conducting inspections and recording animal identification, to government and the rural community'.

The vision set out for RPA in the Plan was that it would be 'a customer focused agency, respected as the European leader in efficient and effective administration' and that the things it would do as part of achieving this vision included providing 'customers with information and a choice in the way they access services'.

On page 12 of the Plan, RPA said that, within the period covered by the Plan, it 'expect[ed] to achieve' a number of things. These included 'to make payments on new CAP schemes in a timely manner from pre-populated data, and to promote take-up of e-systems' and 'to be recognised by customers as providing excellent public services'.

An updated Framework Document for RPA was also published by Defra. This set out the status of RPA and the legal framework within which it worked, explained RPA’s organisation, and gave details about the accountability, performance measurement and reporting, and financial planning and control systems that were in place.

In Chapter 3 of the Document, it was explained that RPA’s principal objectives included the administration of CAP schemes and the provision of 'fair, responsive, high quality services to its customers, minimizing administrative burdens placed on the industries it serves'.

It was also specified that RPA would 'operate within spending review agreements using resources economically, efficiently and effectively whilst delivering all agreed schemes, services and targets'.

5 April 2005

Lord Whitty, the then Food and Farming Minister, met the leadership of the NFU and other industry representatives. The NFU President, in a joint statement with the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), explained that the purpose of the meeting had been to express the industry’s 'grave concerns' and to seek 'formal assurances' that farmers would not be penalised for the delays in registering land.

The President of the NFU said:

'The NFU and CLA are pressing for a formal guarantee that if maps are not ready by the May 16 deadline farmers will be able to submit their details later without penalty. We are also demanding assurances that farmers will not be punished for genuine errors that have been made as a results [sic] of inadequate advice. However, it is still essential, despite all the difficulties, for farmers to make every effort to submit their completed forms before the deadline.'

The President of CLA said that 'It’s simply not good enough that it’s taking as many as 18 calls and several minutes on hold to get through to a helpline offering inconsistent information'.

Following the meeting, Defra issued a short press statement, which said that 'Defra is very concerned about the problems that have been highlighted by the NFU and has asked for urgent action to be taken'.

The 8 April 2005 edition of Farmers Guardian quoted a spokesperson for RPA as having said that:

'RPA recognises and apologises for the delays that some customers have experienced in calls to the customer call centre being answered.'

‘The numbers of calls received have increased several fold over the last month and while we had projected and planned for increased call volumes during the introduction of the Single Payment Scheme, the call volumes have been even higher than those projections.'

7 April 2005

In response to a written Parliamentary question, which had asked 'what arrangements will be put in place for interim payments to be made where there is a delay in the payment of the single farm payment', a Defra Minister, Alun Michael, replied:

'The Rural Payments Agency has announced that it expects to begin payments under the single payment scheme in February 2006, well before the deadline of 30 June 2006 set in EU legislation. The Government are considering what action can be taken to improve on this position or to help in other ways.'

11 April 2005

RPA published a document Single Payment Scheme: frequently asked questions. This said that 'Provisional notifications [that is, of the value of Entitlements] will be made in the Autumn of 2005'.

In response to question 96 – which asked 'What are the start and finish dates of the payment window? Is it correct to assume that the number of individual businesses who receive payment will be spread evenly throughout the payment window, or are the majority of recipients, in the first year at least, likely to have to wait until towards the end of this payment window?' – it was said that:

'The payment window opens on 1 December 2005 and closes on 30 June 2006. The RPA will make every effort to issue payments as soon as practicable within the payment window. The announced start date for payments is February 2006.'

A reference amount calculator was made available on RPA’s website to assist applicants to work out the approximate value of the historic element of their entitlement. The calculator was not available from August 2005, until a revised version was published on 3 February 2006. A leaflet, Single Payment Scheme – Entitlements and the Calculation of a Reference Amount, was available throughout this period.

12 April 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA attended a meeting of the Council of the NFU. According to the 15 April 2005 edition of Farmers Guardian, the Chief Executive had told the Council meeting that the problems RPA had faced in the administration of the scheme had stemmed from the fact that RPA had underestimated farmer demand for its services.

The Chief Executive was quoted as saying that:

'We have had problems with the IT system but it is now pretty much up to standard. What we didn’t expect was the demand…'

‘Now we could have designed a lorry with a big engine to cope with this demand had we ever thought it likely. As it was we looked at normal rates and added a reasonable contingency. We might argue that we underestimated it but I think we have some defence. We knew as far back as June 2004 that this needed to be addressed but 20,000 customers did not engage with the process.'

RPA’s operations director was also quoted as explaining that there were at that time still mapping problems with about 100,000 field parcels out of the 1.7 million parcels that had been dealt with by RPA. He explained the steps that RPA had taken, including devoting additional staff to the work, to mitigate the delays that were being experienced.

19 April 2005

RPA provided 'important information on mapping requirements for all applicants' to the Single Payment Scheme via its website. This informed potential applicants that they could apply to the scheme even if the mapping of their holding had not been finalised on the Rural Land Register.

RPA also informed farmers that, if the finally agreed area of a land parcel differed from the figure used to complete such applications, RPA would not penalise an over-estimate provided that the farmer had made 'a reasonable attempt to estimate the area accurately'. Instead, RPA said that it would adjust the area either upwards or downwards to the new figure.

26 April 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – green;
• scope of the project – red;
• schedule – red;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

13 May 2005

A further status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group.

The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – green;
• scope of the project – amber;
• schedule – red;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

16 May 2005

By this date, which was the deadline for applications for the Single Payment Scheme (that is, those submitted by this date would not attract any late application penalties), RPA received approximately 120,000 applications.

In the 20 May 2005 edition of Farmers Weekly, a spokesperson for RPA was quoted as having said:

'At close of play on May 16 we had received 116,322 application forms… We are pleased that this figure suggests that the vast majority of farmers who wished to claim under the SPS submitted their form by the deadline. The result confirms the RPA’s planned approach to introducing SPS has been successful.'

Referring to the accuracy of the information given out by the helpline, the spokesperson was quoted as having admitted that 'scope for inconsistency' had been introduced because the information provided to RPA operators had been updated regularly.

The spokesperson was reported as having also accepted that 'there were lessons to be learned in dealing with the new customer base – which looks to have grown by about 20,000 farmers – and in particular in responding to large volumes of enquiries'.

17 May 2005

James Paice MP tabled Early Day Motion 117 on Rural Payments. This motion, which attracted 76 signatures, said:

'That this House recognises that the delays in rural payments to farmers are a direct result of the complexity of the system that the Government introduced; notes the serious cash flow problems this has caused for farmers; calls on the Government to make a specific undertaking to make interim payments based on farmers’ historic entitlements; and calls for an assurance from the Government that farmers will not be penalised for the delays in registering land for the Single Payment Scheme as a result of problems within the Rural Payments Agency.'

18 May 2005

The then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett, tabled a written statement before the House of Commons.

In this statement, she set out the performance targets that Ministers had set RPA for the 2005-06 business year.

Those targets included that RPA would:

• 'commence payments under the single payment scheme by February 2006 and… process and pay 96 per cent of valid SPS claims by value by 31 March 2006’; and
• 'process and pay valid claims with at least 98.5 per cent accuracy.'

These were set out in RPA’s Business Plan for 2005-06.

31 May 2005

RPA issued a press release informing farmers of the impending final closing date for applications to the Single Payment Scheme. This explained the consequences of late application, which were that those received between 17 May and 10 June 2005 would be subject to late claim reductions and that those received after 10 June 2005 could not be accepted other than in limited, exceptional circumstances.

9 June 2005

Defra Ministers answered Oral Questions in the House of Commons. James Paice MP, in the exchanges, said 'The Secretary of State referred to payment by February. Her own published targets show that the Department does not expect the bulk of payments to be made until next March'.

He also asked for an assurance regarding whether farmers would see penalties imposed on them for problems arising with inaccurate or late applications to the scheme 'because they did not receive the correct information from the RPA'.

The then Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, in her reply explained:

'We published what we hoped would be the payment dates [that is, at the beginning of the payment window in December 2005], and we published the new date [that is, February 2006] as soon as we knew that it would have to be a little later, to try to give people at least some long-term planning certainty.’

16 June 2005

The then Minister for Food and Farming, Lord Bach, replied to Oral Questions in the House of Lords. These sought to explore whether the change in expected payments from the beginning of the payment window in December 2005 to February 2006 had been a result of IT system problems.

The Minister explained that modifications to the IT system as a result of late policy changes at an EU level had had an impact on the payment timetable. He continued by saying:

'Nevertheless, we believe that the planned delivery dates provide a sufficient margin to process and pay valid applications by the projected payment date of February 2006. The noble Baroness says that that date has been put back. Across Europe, there is a window between December 2005 and [June] 2006 for these payments to be made. We are due to pay in February 2006.'

17 June 2005

Defra announced that the Rural Development Service was moving from having quarterly to monthly start dates for the five-year agreements for the Environmental Stewardship schemes. The first agreements were to start on 1 August 2005.

23 June 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – amber;
• scope of the project – amber;
• schedule – red;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – green; and
• risks/issues – red.

June 2005

The OGC, in its Gateway review, commented that:

'… the programme is in considerable difficulties… The Agency have sought to keep to the February timescale, but the risks of failing have continued to increase… Our assessment is that the current plan to implement payments in February… would require a very fair wind to succeed. And recent experience suggests that there will be much bad weather to cope with.'

The OGC review assessed the project as ‘red’, which indicated that RPA was being recommended to take immediate remedial action at Chief Executive level to address the issues that had been identified.

Defra officials, when informing the then Secretary of State of the outcome of the OGC review, informed her that RPA’s confidence of making payments by February 2006 was only 40%, with 75% confidence in making payments in March 2006.

12 July 2005

Timothy Farron MP tabled Early Day Motion 572 on Single Farm Payments. This motion, which attracted 19 signatures, said:

'That this House welcomes progress achieved so far towards reform of the Common Agricultural Policy; notes that British farmers are amongst those who have adapted best to the changes they have been asked to make; but notes with concern that the implementation by the Rural Payments Agency of the new Single Farm Payment scheme will cause significant additional hardship to farmers because of expected delays in payments to eligible farmers; and calls upon the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to intervene to ensure satisfactory interim advance payment is made to farmers in this calendar year in order to avert unnecessary hardship.'

13 July 2005

In the House of Commons, a Defra Minister, Jim Knight, gave a written answer to a question which had asked whether farmers would receive their payments under the scheme in February 2006, whether compensation would be paid to those who received their payments after 'the due time', and whether advance payments would be made to farmers 'in the event of foreseen delays'.

The Minister replied:

'The payment window set out in EU legislation for the single payment scheme runs from 1 December 2005 to 30 June 2006. Our forecast of a February 2006 payment date for England fits comfortably within that window and remains our position. Payments made within the window do not attract compensation. We have not ruled out the possibility of making advance payments or similar measures but there are real legal and practical difficulties in doing so and we would not want to take action that would delay the main payment.'

14 July 2005

Defra issued a press statement entitled 'Defra acts to secure February date for Single Payment Scheme'. This statement explained that 'the Rural Payments Agency will now prioritise registrations of land onto the Rural Land Register to ensure the fastest possible progress towards a February 2006 start date for payments under the new Single Payment Scheme…'.

After giving details of the new priority arrangements, the statement said that:

'This approach will support the Government’s clearly stated goal of making SPS payments in February. The majority of these will then be paid within a matter of weeks, and 96% by the end of March in accordance with the RPA’s 2005-06 Business Plan.'

The 15 July 2005 edition of Farmers Guardian reported this statement, in an article entitled 'no payment window slip', in the following way:

'Food and Farming Minister Lord Bach has refuted NFU claims that the Single Payment Scheme window has slipped again, from February to March.'

‘Following a stakeholder meeting with Defra and Rural Payment Agency officials, the NFU put out a statement expressing anger at the decision.'

‘NFU president Tim Bennett said he was extremely disappointed and was seeking an urgent meeting with Lord Bach. He also reiterated calls for an advance payment to be made to ease cash flow problems.'

‘But Defra claimed the NFU had misinterpreted the briefing. In a statement Lord Bach said: “It is untrue to say that the payment window has moved to March 2006. Nothing has changed and we still expect to start paying in February and to process the payments as quickly as possible after that”.

‘RPA officials said there were no plans to make advance payments. While this has not been formally ruled out, it would require EU permission and present legal and practical difficulties that would further delay the whole process.'

15 July 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – amber;
• scope of the project – amber;
• schedule – amber;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – green; and
• risks/issues – red.

On the same day RPA closed its priority list, opened in April 2005, for Environmental Stewardship mapping cases that needed attention in order to meet the application deadline for the Stewardship schemes.

19 July 2005

RPA published its Annual Report and Accounts 2004-05. After reiterating that its vision included the provision to customers of 'information and a choice in the way they access services', the Report and Accounts explained that one of the values governing RPA’s work was that 'our customers and stakeholders are our business'.

This value was explained in the following way:

'We make sure we understand the needs and expectations of our customers and stakeholders and are proactive in responding to those needs. We communicate with our customers, consulting them and keeping them informed about changes that are likely to affect them. We apply effective management controls to safeguard European Union and domestic funds and protect the interests of taxpayers by improving efficiency.'

Another value was said to constitute 'partners in progress'. This value was explained as being:

'We work across boundaries within our own organisation and with our partners, making sure we deliver excellent performance to our customers and stakeholders. We work as part of a team within Government and seek new partnerships where this will help us to realise our vision.'

Explaining RPA’s aims and objectives, the Report and Accounts stated that RPA would aim to 'deliver a high quality service that is responsive to the needs of its customers and operates as economically, efficiently and effectively as possible, in accordance with EU accreditation requirements and the policies laid down by the Secretary of State…'.

A principal objective was again said to be the provision of fair, responsive and high quality services to customers. The Report and Accounts also:

• (on page 8) described the service provided by RPA in relation to certain of the predecessor schemes to the Single Payment Scheme as 'excellent', with other schemes showing 'significant improvement' in performance over previous years;
• (on page 17) explained that 'RPA is focused on meeting the needs of our customers', which meant the 'timely and accurate payment of claims, good communication, involving customers in the development of our business and dealing fairly with complaints’; and
• (on page 38) set out RPA’s performance against the key delivery targets set for it during 2004-05, noting that RPA had met all its customer-facing targets. These included processing and paying at least 96.14% of valid claims within the relevant payment window and doing so accurately in at least 98.5% of cases.

On page 48 of the Report and Accounts, significant internal control problems were dealt with. Under a heading Implementation of the Single Payment Scheme, it was explained that:

'RPA is currently facing considerable difficulties in carrying out its prime directive: the implementation of the SPS by February 2006… Data processing of applications and the determination of claimants’ entitlements have been affected by a combination of factors:

• The high volume of SPS claimants.
• A high volume of late submissions by claimants about changes in their land holdings (IACS 22 forms).
• Poor performance and scalability issues with RPA’s land register (used to record IACS 22 changes).
• Incomplete applications submitted by claimants.
• A huge number of customer enquiries from claimants about their submissions that exceeded all estimates of demand upon the Customer Service Centre.
• A three week delay in establishing a stable platform to capture SPS claims once they were received.

‘Successful mitigating action has been taken to counter the effects of all the above difficulties; additionally, RPA has well advanced contingency measures upon which to draw.

‘However, it remains to be seen whether these initiatives coupled with ongoing action to manage a very demanding testing timetable for the core software releases designed to process SPS claims will be sufficient to meet what was already a tough target for delivery of a completely new regime.

‘Additional resources have been acquired to address not only CSC response rates but also to secure higher data capture rates of both claims applications and IACS 22s through the deployment of multiple shift working that makes the most of scarce processing capacity. Beyond this, the priority assigned to delivery of SPS has meant the suspension of certain aspects of business that carries the risk of disallowance.'

18 August 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – red;
• scope of the project – amber;
• schedule – red;
• resources – red;
• stakeholders – red; and
• risks/issues – red.

30 August 2005

Defra announced on its website that farmers could submit Entry Level Stewardship applications 'for the majority of their farms, they don’t have to wait until outstanding issues with the Rural Land Register on individual land parcels are resolved'. It said that the Rural Development Service encouraged farmers to submit applications for land that appeared on the maps within the stewardship application pack. The land would become eligible for payment as soon as it processed the application and farmers could add further parcels of land later, once any Rural Land Register issues were resolved.

September 2005

The OGC reported on a further Gateway review it had conducted of RPA’s change management programme. The authors of the report concluded they were 'convinced' that the programme had a 'reasonable chance' of delivering all payments within the payment window.

21 September 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided briefing on the Single Payment Scheme for Lord Bach.

This said:

'We continue to make progress on the various processing activities required to validate SPS claims. Taking into account the proposed outsource of IACS 22 processing, all work streams remain on target to complete processing activity in time to facilitate an end-February start date for making payments.

‘As of 19 September nearly 71,000 claims (c60% of the total population) have cleared the first stage of validation, with validation complete on approaching 24,000 claims (20%). The majority of the remaining claims have been reviewed and “parked” awaiting further guidance and/or system fix.

‘There are just over 30,000 IACS 22 and miscellaneous mapping cases in process.'

The briefing concluded by saying that, in the coming week:

'The focus will continue on first stage validation, with a limited number of staff working on more detailed validation routines. Work will continue off-RITA on National Reserve applications and cleansing historic reference data. The Inspectorate will prioritise claims involving energy crops and proteins, and making a start to cross compliance inspections.'

22 September 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – red;
• scope of the project – red;
• schedule – red;
• resources – amber;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

29 September 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided further briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach. This stated that there had been:

'Sustained progress on processing claims, with around 12,000 claims clearing Level 1 validation in the past week.

‘All work streams remain on target to complete processing activity in time to facilitate an end-February start date for making payments.

‘Both the data capture and scanning exercises will not now complete until mid-October at the earliest, as just over 100 English claims, together with around 350 cross border claims, require single business identifiers to be raised. The extension should not compromise the validation schedule.'

The briefing continued:

'As of 26 September around 83,000 claims (c69% of the total population) have cleared the first stage of validation, with validation complete on approaching 34,000 claims (28%). The majority of the remaining claims have been reviewed and “parked” awaiting further guidance. The continued focus for the business is providing staff with sufficient guidance to close down the remaining 31,000 parked claims.

‘The main focus for the Customer Registration team is the registration of new customers; generation of new and amended County Parish Holding numbers; and modification of existing registration records. The latter is likely to be most resource intensive, and a first step is to identify major modifications that need to be implemented prior to payment.'

The briefing concluded by saying that, in the coming week:

'The focus will continue on first stage validation, once the system returns on 3 October. Release 3A2 will be deployed on 3 October, and Infoterra will start to digitise IACS 22s on the same day. Work will continue off-RITA on National Reserve applications and cleansing historic reference data. The Inspectorate will prioritise claims involving energy crops and proteins, and making a start to cross compliance inspections.'

30 September 2005

Defra officials made two submissions to the Minister then responsible for RPA and the administration of the scheme, Lord Bach, in advance of a meeting to be held on 4 October 2005 to discuss two issues: the first being 'how to deal with provisional entitlements to SPS claimants, definitive entitlements, and related appeals’; and the second being ‘Single Payment Scheme communications handling'.

In the official submission on the first issue, it was said that:

'The urgent need to agree a coherent communications strategy brings into focus the issue of whether or not to issue provisional entitlements. The intention to issue a provisional entitlement was included in a House of Commons statement in July 2004 and repeated in subsequent booklets sent to farmers. Potential creditors, namely the banks and the supply trade, regard them as important in determining whether to make credit lines available.'

In relation to the recommendation that RPA should not produce provisional entitlements but instead concentrate on issuing definitive entitlements and making scheme payments, the submission noted that:

'… both CLA and NFU expressed real concern if definitive entitlements were not to be notified until the actual payments were made, for two reasons: first, because it would make farmers’ relationships with their bankers and suppliers more difficult… and, second, because it would prevent the trading of entitlements for which a sizable shadow market [is] already developing.'

The submission on the second issue, which set out a proposed communications plan, started by saying 'Following recent positive developments, the RPA remain confident that payments will start in February, with 96% paid by the end of March'. After noting that previous commitments that RPA would issue provisional entitlements during autumn 2005 had been made, the submission continued:

'It is important to note that the [Secretary of State] made a personal statement about her own frustration at suggestions of delay at the NFU annual conference in February 2005. This will be raised in respect of any announcement which is seen as bad news for the claimant. Also potential creditors, namely the banks and the supply trade regard them as important in determining whether to make credit lines available.'

The submission then set out a proposed communications plan. One of its objectives was said to be 'to ensure that farmers are kept informed of the process underway to deliver the SPS in a timely fashion and know where to go for advice and support'. The submission then set out four 'core messages'. In relation to the decision not to issue provisional entitlements, it was said that communications should convey the message that 'the absence of provisional entitlements does not mean that February payments are any less certain'.

3 October 2005

RPA outsourced to Infoterra (one of its suppliers) work to handle the backlog of map digitisation on the Rural Land Register.

4 October 2005

Defra and RPA officials met the then Minister for Food and Farming, Lord Bach, to discuss the submissions which had been made to him on 30 September 2005.

An email the next day recorded the outcome of that meeting. In this email, one of the Minister’s Private Secretaries noted that 'RPA reported that definitive entitlements were projected for 23 February 2006'.

The Private Secretary also recorded that a decision had been taken to issue press statements, which would be discussed with key stakeholders, providing updates on the administration of the scheme and using the 'core messages' set out in the submissions.

5 October 2005

Defra issued a press statement entitled Defra takes further action to ensure payments to farmers in February 2006. This explained that RPA remained:

'… committed and on target to commence payments in February 2006. To help ensure that happens and to allow for notification of final entitlements to be issued as soon as possible in the new year, farmers will not now be informed of their provisional entitlements in the autumn as was envisaged.

‘Definitive entitlements will however now be notified to farmers as early as possible in the new year …. We are continuing to put all our effort and resources into commencing payments in February.'

The statement quoted the then Minister for Food and Farming, Lord Bach, as saying:

'I am determined, however, to keep the farming community well informed as the processing of SPS claims proceeds. With that in mind, and because I am also aware that farmers want definitive entitlements to be made available as early as possible in the new year, we are announcing today that we have taken the decision after discussion with the NFU and others not to provide provisional entitlements to farmers in the autumn.

‘This week’s news that changes may be made to EU rules governing the payment details is unwelcome at this late stage in the process, as it is likely to delay the main payment by at least a month …

‘If it proves impossible to defer these changes I am determined that payments will start to be made in February, even if that involves an interim payment, with the balance following before June.'

6 October 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach. This said:

'This week has seen slow progress with claim processing and land registration, reflecting limited system availability in preparation for deployment of Release 3A2 (entitlement calculation and payment authorisation functionality). Work on the RLR outsource commenced on 3 October. Release 3A2 was deployed on time also on 3 October. Limited progress on processing, coupled with potential changes to the payment calculation method, means the end-February start date for making full payments is under threat.

‘As of 3 October around 86,000 claims (71% of the total population) have cleared the first stage of validation, with validation complete on approaching 35,000 claims (29%). Progress has slowed as parked tasks, which require further information to be provided before processing can continue, are proving difficult to clear. Effort is now focussed on expediting clearance.

‘Work has started on digitising land parcels. Additional staff are being recruited and trained to increase productivity. RPA staff are being trained to quality check digitised parcels. RPA are actively seeking to expedite the completion of receipt routines for uploading digitised parcels.'

The briefing concluded by saying that, in the coming week:

'The focus will continue on first stage validation, National Reserve applications and cleansing historic reference data. I will be attending the NFU Council on 10 October, after which my team will resume detailed discussions with stakeholders.'

10 October 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA attended a meeting of the Council of the NFU. He reported that RPA was on course to begin making scheme payments in February and that most should be completed within three weeks.

The 14 October 2005 edition of Farmers Weekly reported that delegates at the meeting had left the Chief Executive and his officials 'in little doubt about farmers’ frustration' and that those delegates had explained that 'payment delays were causing huge cash-flow problems that were forcing many people to extend their overdrafts or sell commodity at low prices'.

The Chief Executive was quoted as recognising 'the need to get payments out', saying:

'We’ve worked very hard to keep to the schedule that was announced in January last year, and here we are now, and we are still on schedule. That has taken some considerable effort on our part. But I realise it is not when you would like payments to come... and for that I’m sorry.'

12 October 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach. This stated that there had been:

'Continuing progress with claim processing customer and land registration. Work on the RLR outsource is ramping up, following deployment on 3 October. Release 3A2 (entitlement calculation and payment authorisation functionality) is working, following deployment on 3 October. Further work undertaken aimed at increasing productivity, with a view to ensuring an end-February start date for making payments. Clarification expected this week on further policy change...

‘As of 10 October around 90,000 claims (c75% of the total population) have cleared the first stage of validation, with validation complete on approaching 36,000 claims (30%). Progress has slowed as parked tasks are proving difficult to clear. Effort is focussed on expediting clearance of first stage cases.

‘Work has started on digitising land parcels. Additional staff are being recruited and trained to increase productivity. RPA staff are being trained to quality check digitised parcels. RPA are actively seeking to expedite the completion of receipt routines for uploading digitised parcels, with a target date of 25 October for a first upload.'

The briefing continued:

'The Customer Registration teams are focussing on the creation of County Parish Holding numbers, to facilitate clearance of first stage validation; registration of new customers; and modification of the records of existing customers. Additional staff are being deployed to meet these competing priorities.

‘Work is being undertaken to increase productivity on validations whilst reflecting resource constraints and increased activity on supporting processes, such as National Reserve processing.

‘The last IT component required for the 2005 scheme, Release 3A2, was deployed on 3 October.

‘I led an RPA team to the NFU Council on 10 October.'

The briefing concluded by saying that, in the coming week, there would be:

'A continuing focus on validation, land, customer registration and National Reserve processing. RPA’s Industry Forum, which includes key stakeholders, will meet on 19 October.'

18 October 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – red;
• scope of the project – red;
• schedule – red;
• resources – red;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

20 October 2005

A debate was held in the House of Lords to take note of the report of that House’s European Union Committee on The Future Financing of the Common Agricultural Policy. As part of his response to that debate, the then Minister of Food and Farming, Lord Bach, said:

'I want to say a word about the single payment scheme. Of course, there have been considerable difficulties, as the House knows, with putting that scheme into effect. I am not surprised that there have been. Significant effort is being focused on ensuring that payments begin in February. Notwithstanding the important implementation steps that still lie ahead, that remains our best estimate. We have also secured EU legal provisions to make interim payments to farmers, and we are developing contingency systems that could deliver such payments in February, if necessary.'

In reply to an Oral Question in the House of Commons, asking for an update to be provided on progress in implementing the scheme, the then Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, said that RPA:

'… continues to validate claims, to digitise new and amend existing land parcels, and to register new customers applying to the single payment scheme. As we announced earlier this month, the RPA remains on course to start payments next February.'

25 October 2005

A Defra Minister, Jim Knight, tabled a written answer to a Parliamentary question which had asked what discussions had been held with tenant farmers and their representatives concerning the implications of any delays in making scheme payments.

He reminded the House that:

'RPA announced in January of this year that SPS payments were most likely to commence in February 2006; well within the regulatory payment window which runs to June 2006. During the course of regular discussion with industry representatives, RPA officials have re-affirmed that they remain on course to start payments in February.'

26 October 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach. This stated that:

'Only 12,794 first stage validation cases remain to be processed. Around 8,000 IACS 22s processed since the RLR outsource started on 3 October. Proposals being developed to truncate remote sensing follow up inspections in order to maintain payment schedule. Around 10,000 National Reserve applications are in process, although most require additional supporting information from customers.

‘All but 24 claims have been data captured; scanning will complete in the next few days. As of 24 October around 102,000 claims (c85% of the total population) have cleared the first stage of validation or been rejected. Plans are in place to re-assign remaining first stage validation cases to specialist teams, releasing the bulk of staff to switch to detailed processing. Validation is complete on approaching 52,000 claims (43%).

‘There has been a good response to the mail shot to all National Reserve applicants requesting further supporting information. A News Release reminding customers of the closing date issued on 25 October.'

The briefing concluded by saying that, in the coming week:

'The remaining primary validation will be re-assigned to specialist teams. Work will continue on land and customer registration and National Reserve processing. A workshop land registration issue will take place. I will attend the CLA Council meeting on 2 November.'

End October 2005

RPA produced an update to its information leaflet, Single Payment Scheme: information for farmers and growers in England. This explained that RPA had received approximately 120,000 scheme applications 'and remain committed and on target to begin making SPS payments in February 2006'.

The leaflet also explained, under a heading Latest update at 1 November 2005, that 'entitlements will be definitively established, and entitlement statements sent out to all SPS claimants, as early as possible in the new year'.

November 2005 – December 2005

During this period, further written replies on the subject of the scheme were given by Mr Knight to Parliamentary questions. These included the following:

• On 9 November 2005, in response to a question by Adam Holloway MP, in which it was said that:
  'Ministers regularly assess the likely timing of Single Payment Scheme awards with officials at the RPA, which is responsible for the administration of the scheme in England. RPA remains on course to commence payments in February 2006 and complete 96 per cent of payments by the end of March, in line with announcements made at the start of the year.'
• On 17 November 2005, in response to a question by Richard Benyon MP, in which it was again said that:
  'RPA remains on course to commence payments in February 2006 and complete 96 per cent of payments by the end of March, in line with announcements made at the start of the year.'

It was also said that:

'RPA’s objective remains to complete payment on all valid claims by the end of the payment window on 30 June 2006. Any claims that cannot be resolved by 30 June 2006 will be paid as soon as possible after that date, once eligibility has been confirmed.'

• Again on 17 November 2005, in response to three questions by Alistair Burt MP, in which the House was reminded twice that 'RPA announced in January 2005 that payments under the SPS in England would begin in February 2006'. It was also said that increased resources devoted by RPA to resolving outstanding claim queries enabled it 'to remain on course to commence payment under the Single Payment Scheme in February 2006, in line with announcements made at the start of the year'.
• On 22 November 2005, in response to questions by Laurence Robertson MP and by Lindsay Hoyle MP, in which it was said again that:
  'Ministers regularly assess the likely timing of Single Payment Scheme awards with officials at the RPA, which is responsible for the administration of the scheme in England. RPA remains on course to commence payments in February 2006 and complete 96 per cent of payments by the end of March, in line with announcements made at the start of the year.'
• On 2 December 2005, in response to a question by Rosie Cooper MP, in which the same message was provided.

9 November 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach. This stated that:

'We remain on track to commence full payments in February 2006, although processing delays are eroding the 4 weeks schedule contingency in the plan. It is now estimated that no more than 3 weeks contingency remains. Proposals for expediting remaining processing continue to be built into the overall plan.

‘Staff at Carlisle and Northallerton are working to clear remaining first stage validation cases during week commencing 14 November. The majority of processing staff are now working through detailed validation, with the current focus on resolving apparent dual claims. Around 13,500 IACS 22s have been processed by Infoterra since the RLR outsource started on 3 October. The majority of the c18,000 National Reserve applicants have now responded to the request for additional supporting information.

‘Only claims requiring re-keying and scanning remain outstanding. As of 7 November only 10,238 claims (c9% of the total population) have still to clear the first stage of validation.'

The briefing continued:

'The majority of processing staff are now working on the detailed validation of claims. The work of the validation team has identified around 80,000 land parcels which are not on the RLR. As a consequence around 9,100 claimants have been asked to provide supporting information via mailshot.

‘As we make progress with IACS 22s and start work on Level 2 validations, we have identified a system error for calculating of the number of claims forms passed through detailed validation. The actual proportion of claims that have cleared validation is around 27%, rather than the 44% detailed in the last report.

‘This does not impact on the forecast for delivering payments to schedule, which is based on the correct number of tasks within the system, (which remains correct and unchanged) rather than the number of claims forms completed.

‘Processing of the near 18,000 National Reserve applications will now be accelerated, following the provision of additional supporting information by most applicants.'

The briefing concluded by saying that, in the coming week:

'The remaining primary validation will continue to be processed by dedicated teams at Carlisle and Northallerton. The bulk of processing staff will focus on dual claims. Work will continue on land and customer registration and National Reserve processing.'

16 November 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided further briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach.

This stated that:

'Further detailed planning assessments suggest that we are still on track to commence full payment by end-February.

‘The majority of processing staff are now working through detailed validation, with the current focus on resolving apparent dual claims. Around 16,000 IACS 22s have been processed by Infoterra since the RLR outsource started on 3 October. Staff are now working through the additional information provided by the majority of the c18,000 National Reserve applicants.

‘As of 14 November, only 5,906 claims (c5% of the total population) have still to clear the first stage of validation.'

The briefing continued:

'The majority of processing staff are now working on the detailed validation of claims. The overall number of claims that have cleared validation is approaching 30% however many other tasks have been progressed, with specific tasks, such as dual claim elements and RLR region tasks being closed down.

‘There are now 16,000 known IACS 22s left to process. Sketch maps from some of the c15,000 customers contacted to provide further information have started to arrive from customers.

‘Processing of the near 18,000 National Reserve applications is now accelerating, following the provision of additional supporting information by most applicants. Some 1,900 applications have been cleared for calculation and a further 9,000 are actively being progressed.'

17 November 2005

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was provided to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – red;
• scope of the project – red;
• schedule – red;
• resources – red;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

23 November 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach. This stated that:

'We continue to work towards full payments starting by the end of February.

‘First stage validation is proving difficult to fully complete, with around 3,600 claims left to close down as of 21 November. Most of the remaining cases require further customer registration/scanning information before they can be progressed through the validation system.'

The briefing then explained that:

'Around 800 staff are now working full time on detailed validation and National Reserve processing. Detailed validation work is being monitored by task type, as many claims have multiple tasks requiring clearance before validation is complete.

‘Approximately 31% of claims have now completed detailed validation (although some will require residual action). Just short of 500,000 tasks have been raised for main validation, of which 9% have been cleared, with a further 3% currently in progress.

‘National Reserve processing is expected to be completed by 17 January. Some 4,500 applications have been cleared for calculation and a further 7,600 are actively being progressed. Processing staff are in the process of reviewing the supplementary evidence supplied by around 13,000 claimants.'

The briefing continued:

'Around 30,000 IACS 22s have been processed since 3 October. A further 25,000 remain to be processed including a proportion of the maps requested from customers.

‘A further planning session earlier this week confirmed a mid-December target date can be accommodated within the RLR schedule without compromising the February payment target.

‘Whilst our plans assume no productivity over the Christmas/New Year period, arrangements have been made to maintain a presence at processing sites outside of bank holidays.

‘The site presence will be available to cover the drop in centres at these locations. The three drop in centres not located at processing sites, at Bristol, Newmarket and Worcester, will be closed during the Christmas period, reflecting the handful of staff operating each centre, and the very limited customer contact at such locations since the closure of the SPS application window.'

30 November 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided further briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach.

This stated that:

'We continue to work towards full payments starting by the end of February. Detailed validation and National Reserve processing has progressed over the past week.

‘A second upload of land data digitised by Infoterra will be validated tonight and uploaded tomorrow into RITA. Land registration and detailed validation remain on the critical path for February payments, and we continue to examine opportunities to reduce the amount of processing activity.

‘Only 2,400 first stage validation cases were outstanding as of 28 November. Most of the remaining cases require further customer registration information before they can be processed through the validation system by dedicated teams at Carlisle and Northallerton.

‘Over 2,200 full time equivalent staff are working on one or more SPS processing activities; namely claim validation; customer and land registration; National Reserve and SPS/cross compliance inspections.'

The briefing continued:

'Detailed validation work is being monitored by task type, as many claims have multiple tasks requiring clearance before validation is complete. In the past week an additional 22,000 tasks have been identified for clearance.

‘Some of these additional tasks have affected claims that had previously cleared validation. This increases the total population of genuine tasks to 522,000. Of that number some 79,000 have either been completed or are in progress, representing 15% of the total.

‘National Reserve processing is expected to be completed by 17 January. Some 7,000 applications have been assessed which includes around 900 instances where the application has been withdrawn. Those accepted have been cleared for calculation and a further 6,500 are actively being progressed.

‘A total of 35,730 mapping tasks have been processed since 3 October.'

7 December 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided further briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach.

This stated that:

'We continue to work towards full payments starting by the end of February. More detailed validation tasks have been identified over the past week, offsetting clearance of previously recognised tasks. National Reserve processing has progressed well over the past week, with some 77% now complete or in progress.

‘A second upload of land data digitised by Infoterra was uploaded into RITA on 2 December. Around 20% of the parcels failed to upload, and a detailed review of the causes is being undertaken.

‘Land registration and detailed validation remain on the critical path for February payments, and we continue to examine opportunities to reduce the amount of processing activity.

‘Only 1,948 first stage validation cases were outstanding as of 5 December. Most of the remaining cases require manual identification of claims from within the 120,000 population, as the documents will not scan properly.

‘A dedicated team drawn from validation staff at Carlisle and Northallerton are manually identifying claims for subsequent processing.

‘Over 2,200 full time equivalent staff are working on one or more SPS processing activities; namely claim validation; customer and land registration; National Reserve and SPS/cross compliance inspections.'

The briefing continued:

'Detailed validation work is being monitored by task type, as many claims have multiple tasks requiring clearance before validation is complete. In the past week an additional 5,000 tasks have been identified for clearance.

‘Some of these additional tasks have affected claims that had previously cleared validation. This increases the total population of genuine tasks to 527,000. Of that number some 91,000 have either been completed or are in progress, representing 17% of the total.

‘National Reserve processing is expected to be completed by 17 January. Some 9,000 applications have been assessed which includes around 1,000 instances where the application has been withdrawn. Those accepted have been cleared for calculation and a further 5,500 are actively being progressed.

A total of 42,600 mapping tasks have been processed since 3 October.'

15 December 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided further briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach.

This stated that:

'We continue to work towards full payments starting by the end of February. Land registration and detailed validation remain on the critical path for February payments, and some validation tasks are taking much longer to close down than envisaged.

‘Additional validation tasks have been identified over the past week as further claims have moved into detailed validation, offsetting clearance of previously recognised tasks. ‘National Reserve processing has progressed well over the past week, with some 88% now complete or in progress. A third batch of land data digitised by Infoterra was uploaded into RITA on 11 December.

‘Around 800 first stage validation cases remain outstanding as of 13 December. Detailed validation work is being monitored by task type, as many claims have multiple tasks requiring clearance before validation is complete.

‘In the past week an additional 20,000 tasks have been identified for clearance. Some of these additional tasks have affected claims that had previously cleared validation. This increases the total population of genuine tasks to 562,000. Of that number some 129,000 have either been completed or are in progress, representing 23% of the total.'

The briefing continued:

'A system enhancement planned for 12 December took place as scheduled, with the main component running for the first time overnight on 13 December. The deployment closed some 320,000 cross check tasks, the majority of which were raised in error. Staff will be working through to ensure the system enhancement worked correctly and will ensure that genuine tasks are progressed.

‘National Reserve processing is still expected to be complete by 17 January. Progress on processing applications has improved with 88% of assessment decisions complete or in progress.

‘A further 7,000 sketch maps have been commissioned from farmers in the past few weeks following a review of parcels identified on claims but not on the RLR. The deadline for return of maps from customers is 19 December. We are despatching maps to around 30,000 customers whose land has been digitised since 3 October by our third party supplier.'

A status report on the scheme implementation programme was also provided on the same day to the joint Defra-RPA Executive Review Group. The programme risks were graded as follows:

• business case – red;
• scope of the project – red;
• schedule – red;
• resources – red;
• stakeholders – amber; and
• risks/issues – red.

22 December 2005

The then Chief Executive of RPA provided briefing on the scheme to Lord Bach. This stated that:

'We continue to work towards full payments starting by the end of February. Land registration and detailed validation remain on the critical path for February payments, and additional validation tasks continue to be raised. Some 631,000 validation tasks have been identified thus far, an increase of 70,000 over the past week. National Reserve processing has progressed well over the past week, with some 93% now assessed or in progress. A key entitlement programme ran on 20 December with two others due on 21 December. These will enable calculation of regional averages and full processing of National Reserve allocations.

‘Around 550 first stage validation cases remain outstanding as of 21 December.'

The briefing explained:

'Detailed validation work is being monitored by task type, as many claims have multiple tasks requiring clearance before validation is complete. In the past week an additional 70,000 tasks have been identified for clearance, as the majority of remaining claims cascaded into the detailed validation process. This increases the total population of genuine tasks to 631,000. Of that number some 147,000 have either been completed or are in progress, representing 23% of the total.

‘The system enhancements planned for 12 and 15 December were deployed on schedule, with the main component running for the first time overnight on 13 December. The deployment progressed some 320,000 cross check tasks, made to the software to close down a proportion of remaining cross checks.

‘National Reserve processing is still expected to be complete by 17 January. Progress on processing applications has improved with 93% of assessment decisions complete or in progress.'

The briefing continued:

'Work has commenced on analysing around 13,000 historic reference amounts to either allocate the money to a 2005 SPS claim or confirm that this money should be surrendered to the National Reserve. Just over 1,000 cases have been adjudicated and processed to date.

‘All bar 1,400 of the 7,000 sketch maps commissioned from farmers in the past few weeks have been returned. The deadline for return of maps from customers is 19 December. A number of farmers have been critical of the process of requesting maps so late in the validation process and the tight administrative deadline imposed for return of maps.

‘A proportion of the 68,000 additional validation tasks identified over the past week relate to new mapping requests. A further commissioning request will be made to the relevant farmers, with returned maps digitised after the planned uploads on 23 December and 21 January. We have thus far despatched maps to around 9,000 of the 30,000 customers whose land has been digitised since 3 October by Infoterra.'

31 December 2005

According to paragraph 3 of Article 38 of the European Commission Regulation 795/2004, this was the regulatory deadline for establishing definitive scheme entitlements. That paragraph provides:

'The value and number of the payment entitlements allocated on the basis of the farmers’ declarations for the establishment of the payment entitlements in the first year of application of the single payment scheme shall be provisional. The definitive value and number shall be established, by 31 December of the first year of application of the single payment scheme at the latest, after the checks made pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 are carried out.'

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