Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which EU schemes her Department administers; if she will estimate the annual cost of administering each such scheme in each of the (a) last and (b) next five years; if she will estimate the total value of each scheme in each of the (i) last and (ii) next five years; and for which schemes her Department has been subject to infraction proceedings from the EU Commission.

George Eustice

There are two EU funds under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Defra administers the CAP in England. The Devolved Administrations administer these EU schemes separately. The estimated value of these funds from 2011 to 2020 are set out in the table below, figures are for England.

The current Multiple Financial Framework runs until 2020 so that is the last year where there is an estimate of the total value for both of the schemes.

Decisions relating to the implementation of the CAP in England are integrated into numerous policy areas within the Department and the delivery of the CAP is carried out primarily by the Rural Payments Agency, Natural England and Forestry Commission, alongside other business. This arrangement allows the various objectives of the CAP to be delivered effectively. However, this integrated approach to delivery also makes it difficult to calculate the total annual cost of the CAP in isolation. This is something that was identified by the NAO in its recent report ‘Early Development of the CAP Delivery Programme’, and the Department is currently considering how to respond to this recommendation.

In relation to these two schemes the Department has not been subject to any infraction proceedings from the EU in the last five years.