Reducing the burden of regulation
Conservatives recognise that if we want our farmers to succeed in an open market we cannot continue to saddle the industry with an extra burden of cost relative to their competitors. We must look to facilitate rather than regulate but the UK Government has earned a reputation for being one ofthe most heavy-handed in Europe when it comes to implementing EU farming legislation and is missing its own target to reduce administrative burdens.
Of course high standards are important – and must be maintained - but it is the outcomes that matter, whether reducing nitrate levels in watercourses or increasing farmland bird numbers. As long as these outcomes are met we should leave the methods to the professional judgement of farmers. Labour too easily forgets that farmers have a high regard for their social and environmental responsibilities, and has allowed unnecessary and costly red tape to proliferate.
Many regulations start life in Europe but the Labour Government has been too slow to influence their outcome, landing our farmers with costly requirements that offer no recognisable benefit, as in the case of new rules banning certain pesticides and the obligation to electronically identify sheep.
We will pursue a policy of active and early engagement in Europe to ensure that new regulations do not damage UK interests.
We will commission within the first three months of taking office an industry-led review of all existing regulations, including cross compliance,with a view to reducing burdens without compromising standards.
We will move towards a system which focuses on outcomes rather than processes, trusting farmers to determine the methods that best suit the conditions on their farm.
We will oppose regulations unless they offer clear and meaningful benefits in proportion to their impact on farmers, and will work toensure that existing regulations, such as the Nitrates Directive, are more appropriately applied. We will allow farmers to apply for grants within the existing Rural Development Programme England budget to help meet the costs of EU legislation.
The superstructure of regulation is backed up by a plethora of agencies and inspectorates which duplicate effort, keep farmers from farming and incur unnecessary cost to the public purse. Various reviews have noted the potential for reducing the total inspection burden, without compromising food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection.
We will minimise on-farm inspections through much greater consolidation of inspections and improved information sharing,reducing costs to both taxpayers and farmers.
We will come down heavily on those who flout the rules, but will shift the balance of inspection effort away from pure enforcement and towards advice to farmers about what is needed to comply.
There is not only overlap between the various Government inspection bodies, but between Government bodies and independent certification schemes such as the Red Tractor, which cover 78,000 UK farmers and growers. As these standards will be above the basic statutory requirements, we believe there is significant scope to reduce state inspection of certified farms.
As part of these schemes producers are independently inspected at regular intervals. However, little or no account is made of this when farms are randomly selected for cross compliance and other state inspections. This means that a certified farm could receive several inspections while a farm which is not receives none. This approach is neither fair nor risk-based and may act as a disincentive to joining farm assurance schemes.
We will ensure that membership of a recognised farm assurance scheme results in a lower frequency of state inspection, saving farmers time and money.
Labour’s botched implementation of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in England was a direct result of ministerial incompetence, which has heaped further pressure on farmers and could end up costing taxpayers over£600 million. The ongoing problems besetting the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) give rise to serious questions about the accountability and effectiveness of the current arrangements for administering the SPS. Conservatives are conducting a review of the role, function and budgets ofall quangos under Defra in order to deliver greater accountability and value for money.
We will seek fundamental reform of the RPA to deliver more effective administration, reduced costs and improved reliability.
We will appoint the Minister for Farming as Chair of the RPA Management Board to ensure greater accountability and renewed focuson the need to deliver.
When workers are protected by minimum wage legislation and farming is expected to operate like any other industry, it is difficult to justify the retention of the Agricultural Wages Board, the body that sets minimum wages for workers employed in agriculture in England and Wales.
We will abolish the Agricultural Wages Board, reducing costs to the taxpayer and placing UK agriculture and horticulture on a morecompetitive footing.