4 Conclusion
26. The Government's decision raises a number of
questions and concerns. As it stands the Single Payment Scheme
in England, and the way in which it differs from the approaches
taken in the rest of the United Kingdom, will have practical impacts
which will cause economic and environmental effects. It is not
clear that full account has been taken of those effects in Government
decision-making to date. Research is needed, and if unexpected
distortions are uncovered changes in policy may be required. A
further concern is whether or not the Rural Payments Agency is
equipped to cope with the change.
27. Moreover, having made the 'headline' decision
about the basis of the Single Payment Scheme the Government has
now turned its attention to the detail of the Scheme - for example,
by issuing a consultation documents about cross-compliance and
about the national reserve and other matters.[34]
Here there are a number of highly contentious and difficult issues
to resolve. We intend to return
to this subject in the second part of our inquiry, to be conducted
in due course. At that time we will address issues including:
· Cross-compliance,
and what public goods are expected to be delivered in return for
continuing public support for agriculture;
· The
particular details of what will be required of farmers under an
entry-level scheme; and
· The
specific issues faced by sectors such as orchards, forestry, keeping
horses and others.
34 Defra (2004) Consultation on proposed and possible
measures for implementation of cross compliance in England,
Defra, issued 29 March 2004; Defra (2004) Consultation on options
under the Single Payment Scheme in England in regard to operating
a national reserve, entitlement trading and the initial allocation
of entitlements, Defra, issued 2 April 2004. Back
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