DEFRA efficiency

[AnnaMooMoo]

Hi all,
I am only 2 years into my farming "career" and already I am writing to my MP about DEFRA's incompetence.

I am also asking what action will be taken regarding the PAC's report on ELMS....

Can anyone tell me what percentage of DEFRA's "CAP" equivalent budget actually goes to farmers/ land holders as opposed to being spunked up the wall by civil servants and administration staff?
TIA

 

[Timbo]

Hi all,
I am only 2 years into my farming "career" and already I am writing to my MP about DEFRA's incompetence.

I am also asking what action will be taken regarding the PAC's report on ELMS....

Can anyone tell me what percentage of DEFRA's "CAP" equivalent budget actually goes to farmers/ land holders as opposed to being spunked up the wall by civil servants and administration staff?
TIA

Good luck with that.

 

[AnnaMooMoo]

Good luck with that.

I'd imagine my local Tory MP is probably too busy searching his diary for what he was up to on 20th May 2020...

 

[Wellytrack]

Hi all,
I am only 2 years into my farming "career" and already I am writing to my MP about DEFRA's incompetence.

I am also asking what action will be taken regarding the PAC's report on ELMS....

Can anyone tell me what percentage of DEFRA's "CAP" equivalent budget actually goes to farmers/ land holders as opposed to being spunked up the wall by civil servants and administration staff?
TIA

You had me at “Spunked up the wall”

 

[Extreme Optimist]

I'd imagine my local Tory MP is probably too busy searching his diary for what he was up to on 20th May 2020...

Well I have just emailed my Labour MP, so it will be interesting to see what the different responses are!

 

[delilah]

spunked up the wall by civil servants and administration staff?

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/u...ironmental-Land-Management-scheme-summary.pdf

Page 4.
They are aiming for 10%.
Current agri-environment schemes it is up to 18%.

 

[AnnaMooMoo]

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/u...ironmental-Land-Management-scheme-summary.pdf

Page 4.
They are aiming for 10%.
Current agri-environment schemes it is up to 18%.

Brilliant. Thank you for sharing the link. Going to need a glass of wine now.
I even included in my email, the press release for the PAC's findings, that you posted on Sunday.

 

[AnnaMooMoo]

Hang on.... how are they going to reduce the admin burden when they are dissolving one relatively simple scheme [albeit a blunt instrument] and replacing it with...
landscape recovery, local nature recovery, sustainable farming incentive, the farming equipment and Technology fund, the farming transformation fund, plus maintaining CS etc.?

 

[delilah]

Hang on.... how are they going to reduce the admin burden

They aren't. Which is just another reason to drastically amend ELMS from its current form. They have been given clear guidance by folks on here as to what ELMS should look like. Admin would be circa 1%.

 

[Wombat]

Hang on.... how are they going to reduce the admin burden when they are dissolving one relatively simple scheme [albeit a blunt instrument] and replacing it with...
landscape recovery, local nature recovery, sustainable farming incentive, the farming equipment and Technology fund, the farming transformation fund, plus maintaining CS etc.?

They are not, it’s a job creating scheme for the clipboard army.

 

[Timbo]

They are not, it’s a job creating scheme for the clipboard army.

RPA & NE are completely and utterly out of touch with the real world ... let alone with agriculture.

Administrative costs of setting up any form of ELMS, plus operating it are going to spiral 10 fold, and no one will be responsible

 

[Steevo]

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/u...ironmental-Land-Management-scheme-summary.pdf

Page 4.
They are aiming for 10%.
Current agri-environment schemes it is up to 18%.

Does that include the design stage or is that just ongoing admin costs?

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Hang on.... how are they going to reduce the admin burden when they are dissolving one relatively simple scheme [albeit a blunt instrument] and replacing it with...
landscape recovery, local nature recovery, sustainable farming incentive, the farming equipment and Technology fund, the farming transformation fund, plus maintaining CS etc.?

Because they only expect the NT, rspb, BA, Prince Charles and Ed Sheeran to apply.

 

[delilah]

Does that include the design stage or is that just ongoing admin costs?

Scarily I would guess that it is just the ongoing admin costs once it is in full swing ? All the stuff being done now will be in Defra core costs ?

 

[Steevo]

Scarily I would guess that it is just the ongoing admin costs once it is in full swing ? All the stuff being done now will be in Defra core costs ?

Thank you. That would make for an interesting total sum.

 

[DrWazzock]

Hi all,
I am only 2 years into my farming "career" and already I am writing to my MP about DEFRA's incompetence.

I am also asking what action will be taken regarding the PAC's report on ELMS....

Can anyone tell me what percentage of DEFRA's "CAP" equivalent budget actually goes to farmers/ land holders as opposed to being spunked up the wall by civil servants and administration staff?
TIA

I asked this question of DEFRA in the question and answer thread on LNR etc.
In particular have they forecast the admin, IT and consultancy costs etc to radically change the scheme at a time of extreme pressure on public finances.
Didn’t get a reply of course so they either don’t know or don’t want to tell us.

 

[farmerm]

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/u...ironmental-Land-Management-scheme-summary.pdf

Page 4.
They are aiming for 10%.
Current agri-environment schemes it is up to 18%.

£2.4bn over 4 years of parliament

That's a worry as this link below says farmers received £3.5bn a year in 2018, its a big drop from £3.5bn a year to £2.4bn over 4!

More worring is this...

I think ostrich syndrome is still entrenched in our industry..... That is near 40% of UK farm businesses that do not stack up financially when the financial props get kicked away. Things are not necessarily much better for the next 40%, their figures may not have been a loss without support but there is a vast difference between not making a loss and making a living.



"Defra has set a cap for administrative costs at 10% of scheme payments, compared with up to 18% under current agri-environment schemes. It based this target on a desired level of savings on current scheme costs, rather than a detailed understanding of the cost drivers in existing and future schemes. Defra expects to achieve its target through a combination of simpler scheme rules, faster and more automated processing of applications, and remote and automated compliance and enforcement."


I have a desire to reduce my administrative costs to zeo but I live in the real world and have an unwilliness to accept I have been pissing away 30% of administrative costs for years......

 

[Vader]

Hi all,
I am only 2 years into my farming "career" and already I am writing to my MP about DEFRA's incompetence.

I am also asking what action will be taken regarding the PAC's report on ELMS....

Can anyone tell me what percentage of DEFRA's "CAP" equivalent budget actually goes to farmers/ land holders as opposed to being spunked up the wall by civil servants and administration staff?
TIA

Another question is what % of defra staff have any farming background....,?

 

[delilah]

Another question is what % of defra staff have any farming background....,?

A direct result of the ongoing loss of critical mass within the industry.

Had a chap here yesterday cutting some feckin leylandii down. Brilliant guy, hardly stopped all day, swinging round on his harness like a monkey. Turns out he grew up on a dairy farm. Gone now. So puts up fences and cuts down trees. Generalization alert: All the good people grew up on farms. Our centralist food policy - actively supported for decades by the industry - is now reaping its just reward. The sons and daughters to become vets/ Defra officials/ insert 101 other professions, they aren't there anymore. We have to reverse the trend.

 

[DrWazzock]

It’s the revenge of the left wing geography teachers. Remember them at school? I wondered how long it would take for their educational spawn to infiltrate every government department in the country from town hall planning to government ministries.
Well here are today.