Nick Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will place in the Library the report on the suspension of the digital service for the Basic Payment Scheme for farmers which was commissioned by her Department and the Rural Payments Agency in March 2015.

George Eustice

The digital service for the Basic Payment Scheme has not been suspended. Over 80,000 farmers and agents have registered on the Rural Payments system, and farmers cannot be paid without registering on the new system.

Defra and the Rural Payments Agency have received a number of reports from the Major Projects Authority about progress with the Rural Payments IT System. Such reports are not made public in order to protect the effectiveness of the reviews which the Major Project Authority undertakes.