Detecting irregularities
21. These weaknesses have left the FMS and IACS systems
vulnerable to fraud. In 2001, the Northern Ireland Assembly's
Public Accounts Committee reported on an attempted fraud involving
two claims on IACS forms for land which was not actually available
for forage, including large areas of recreational land and a car
park. In a bid to prevent fraud, the Department has an IACS inspection
programme, whereby some 5% of declarations are checked each year.
Because the check includes all new applications, less than 5%
of the existing land holdings on the system are checked each year.
By 2002, some 50% of the total declarations had yet to be inspected
and verified.[21]
22. The Department's view is that it is highly unlikely
that there are major fraud problems remaining in the rest of the
database. It said that it had no evidence of widespread problems
from its ongoing programme of inspections and there was no reason
to expect that the remaining half will throw up any problems.
We are not persuaded. Bogus land declarations have already been
discovered in the database and, with some 375,000 records still
to be validated, the potential for other irregularities does exist.
Also, with less than 5% of existing holdings being checked each
year, validation of the remainder of the database will take more
than 10 years. In our view, the Department needs to consider how
the validation exercise can be speeded up.[22]
Introducing digital mapping
23. FMS maps are hand-drawn, a labour intensive process.
With current developments in digital mapping and with a view to
future EU requirements, the Department has decided to introduce
an automated 'Geographical Information System' to record and validate
land holdings. The new system is to be in place in 2005. We welcome
the improvements that this will bring to the Department's administration
of the sheep annual premium scheme. We expect the Department to
ensure, however, that the range of concerns, identified by the
C&AG within FMS, will not be repeated when the new system
is implemented.[23]
20 C&AG's Report, paras 3.7-3.11, 3.14 Back
21
C&AG's Report, paras 3.15-3.17; 4th Report from
the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee of Public Accounts, National
Agriculture Support: Fraud (NIA4/00/R, Session 2000-01) Back
22
Q 74; C&AG's Report, para 3.18 Back
23
Q 81; C&AG's Report, paras 3.22-3.28 Back
