Meeting of the Parliament 09 March 2016 [Draft]
The cabinet secretary cannot just deflect criticism of his handling of the system by looking at the UK Government. He knows full well that my party will support his Government and other parties against decisions that are made by the UK Government, if necessary, as we did on the convergence uplift. Let us concentrate on the point in hand, which is his responsibility, rather than something over which he has no control.
The findings of Dr Wilson’s report are as relevant today as they were when the report was written, but the rural economy has been and is being starved of core funding to the tune of some £300 million, due to the Scottish Government’s inability to deliver CAP support.
Until yesterday, the cabinet secretary’s only reaction had been to offer a £20 million loan of last resort if the banks refuse to extend an individual farmer’s overdraft facility while the farmer is waiting for their payment. I suggest that very little of that money would be taken up, first, because the banks, to their credit, appear to be applying considerable sympathy to the sector when it comes to extended borrowing, and secondly, because any farmer who is refused further bank credit in such circumstances must be in imminent danger of becoming insolvent, and the last thing that such a farmer will need is further indebtedness.
I suggest to the cabinet secretary that he draws down that money and puts it into hiring the extra staff who are clearly still required to sort out the IT system. That is the best way in which he can restore faith in his Government’s ability to deliver. Such faith has been massively eroded over the past few months.
It is not as if the cabinet secretary’s problems are going to go away in the near future. It has been clear for some time that there will be considerable delays to other payments, further down the line. I am told by the most reliable of sources that the IT programme to process the Scottish suckler beef support scheme, on which the cabinet secretary will make an advance payment in April, has not even been written yet.
Pillar 2 schemes all face extensive delays, and a considerable negative impact will be felt by, in particular, new entrants and young farmers, who are hampered by a complete lack of information about their circumstances.
Yesterday’s panic-induced announcement will not solve any of those problems, which still need to be sorted out, and quickly.
The cabinet secretary has successfully bought off long-term criticism of his grip on the basic payment scheme, but the underlying problems that led to that criticism remain. As we approach the opening of the next single application form window, he needs to make certain that this scandalously expensive system is sorted out once and for all or abandoned, if necessary. Perhaps he secretly hopes that that is one legacy item that he can leave to his successor.
I move,
That the Parliament acknowledges the financial difficulties facing Scottish farmers following the delayed payment of common agricultural policy funds as a result of the Scottish Government’s failed £178 million Futures Programme IT system; understands that only 50% of farmers had been paid by the end of February 2016, notwithstanding the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment’s assurances that “most” farmers would have received their payments by the end of January; notes that this is the third indicative deadline that the Scottish Government has failed to meet; recognises that current payments to farmers represent only a quarter of the available basic payment and greening funds; believes that these delays have left the rural economy facing a financial black hole of some £300 million; recognises that farmers across the country have lost trust in the ability of the cabinet secretary to deliver funding before the end of the financial year and supports calls for a full independent inquiry into the Scottish Government’s IT failures; notes that Scottish farm income has fallen by 15% over the past year, which is only the second time this century when incomes have fallen in two consecutive years and, as a result, calls on the Scottish Government to take whatever steps are necessary to process the outstanding £300 million of basic payment and greening funds and the £38 million of Scottish beef scheme funds, including the hiring of temporary staff if necessary; commends the Scottish Government for having taken steps to ensure that less favoured area support scheme payments are received promptly, and calls on the Scottish Government to guarantee that all claimants will receive the first instalment of their basic payments by no later than the end of March 2016.