Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government's contract for the new rural payments and services IT system is with CGI. Spectromax, along with other agencies, is a supplier to CGI and the Scottish Government has not made any direct payments to Spectromax.

The new rural payments and services computer system is being used to process the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme and the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme.

<>The first such payment announced by the Scottish Government was the Cash Flow Support Scheme for cases of severe hardship. That scheme was announced by myself on 12 February 2016 and was developed in the weeks leading up to that announcement.

Throughout the programme, we have used the government gateway review process which involves independent assessment on the progress of the programme. The Scottish Government is committed to learning lessons from this IT programme however our current focus is on delivering payments.

Staff are continuing to work as hard as possible to process applications as quickly as possible, and we are continuing efforts to speed up progress, such as taking on extra staff. Payments are expected to be made within the current EU regulatory window.

A total of 36 additional members of staff have been recruited to area offices to deal with payment issues. We have also recruited 35 additional professional staff members.

The £200 million figure was arrived at by taking account of the % age of funding being paid as first instalments payments and the amount already paid to farmers and crofters.

Our programme of inspections is designed to help safeguard the environment, the public, crop health, animal welfare and meet our obligations for using European Commission money. Scottish Government officials are responsible for inspecting businesses or private property where certain types of animals are kept, both for commercial reasons or as pets. This category of inspection will take place regardless of whether funding has been applied for or not. Further information regarding inspections can be found on line at https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/inspections/

There have not been any general delays to payments for agricultural sheds under the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme. While it is possible that individual cases may have taken longer to process than others, without the specific details of the case or cases you refer to, it is impossible to go into more detail. However, if you can provide additional information, further enquiries can be made.

Under EU rules, Scotland cannot unilaterally make the decision to extend the single application form deadline. The extension allowed in 2015 was granted by the EU Commission. The Scottish Government will keep in close contact with the EU Commission about whether any flexibility is required regarding the 2016 application window deadline.